LINCOLN 
AND   SALEM 


PIONEERS 
MASON 


AND 


MENARD 
COUNTIES 


T»G'ONSTOT 


"LI  B  R.AR.Y 

OF   THE. 

U  N  IVERS  ITY 
OF    ILLINOIS 


r> 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


T.  G.  ONSTOT 


PIONEERS 


OF 


COUNTIES 


MADE  UP  OF  PERSONAL  REMINISCENSES  OF  AN  EARLY  LIFE  IN 

MENARD  COUNTY,  WHICH  WE  GATHERED  IN  A  SALEM  LIFE 

FROM  1830  TO  1840,  AND   A  PETERSBURG  LIFE  FROM 

1840  TO  1850;  INCLUDING  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES 

OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  AND  PETER  CARTRIGHT. 


T.  G.  ONSTOT 


1902:    • 
PUBLISHED  BY  T.  G.  ONSTOT,  FOREST  CITY,  ILLINOIS. 

PRINTED  BY  J.  W.  FRANKS  &  SONS, 
PEORIA,  ILLINOIS. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1902,  by 

T.  G.  ONSTOT, 
in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D,  C. 


,        .r  77  355  . 

I  n 


THIS  BOOK 
IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED  TO 

SUSAN  EMMA  ONSTOT 

BY  HER  FATHER 

T.  G.  ONSTOT,  FOREST  CITY,  ILL. 


Index 

SALUTATORY 12 

INTRODUCTORY    13 

CHAPTER  I. 

Reminiscences  of  Lincoln 17 

CHAPTER  II. 

His  First  Love 22 

His  Second  Love 24 

Lincoln's  Third  Love 30 

Lincoln's    Marriage 33 

CHAPTER  III. 

From  Flat  Boat  to  White  House 38 

Shirt  Sleeve  Court  in  the  Corn  Field 41 

Lincoln  Attends  a  Circus 46 

President  Lincoln's  First  Dollar 51 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Lincoln  at  Salem « 53 

Lincoln  as  a  Lawyer,  on  Horseback 58 

Lincoln's  Appearance 63 

As  a  Lawyer 65 

How   He   Traded   Horses 66 

He  Preferred  Grant's  Whisky 66 

Lincoln's  Apt  Reply 67 

CHAPTER  V. 

Ross   and   Lincoln 68 

Anecdotes  of  Lincoln 71 

Lincoln's  Early  Life 75 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Lincoln's  Old  Home 79 

How  Lincoln  Cured  Charles  Revis  from  Swearing 85 

Lincoln  as  Postmaster  at  Salem 87 

Biographical  Note  of  Lincoln 90 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Lincoln's    Religious    Belief 92 

Abe  Lincoln  and  Slicky  Bill  Green 95 

Trial  of  Duff  Armstrong 98 

Duff  Armstrong's  Statement. 100 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Backwoods  Preacher 103 

Birth   of    Cartright 103 

Judge  of  Human  Nature 107 

Cartright  at  a  Dance 108 

A  Fatal  Accident no 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Anecdotes  of  Cartright in 

Cartright's  Appearance 113 

CHAPTER  X. 

Riding  His   Circuit 115 

Cartright  gets  a  little  Boozy 117 

Capacity  for  Work 118 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Baptists 121 

The  Campbellites 123 

The  Presbyterians -124 

Methodist   Church 124 

Old    Fashioned    Camp-Meeting 125 

Peter  Cartright's  Tomb 128 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Menard    County 131 

Stories  of  Pioneer  Days 134 

The  Cold  Day  in  1837 136 

CHAPTEJR  XIII. 

The   Green    Family 138 

A  Pioneer  Gone 141 

The   Watkins   Family 142 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Old  Salem  on  the  Hill 148 

The  West  End  of  Salem 152 

Old  Salem  Under  the  Hill 155 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Old  Settler's  Day 160 

The  Founders  of  Petersburg 165 

A  Trip  to  Petersburg 166 

In   Memoriam 168 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
History  of  Petersburg  Sixty  Years  Ago 170 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Early  Times  in  the  Capital  of  Menard 178 

Petersburg   in   the    Forties 184 

Old    Fashioned    Barbecues > 189 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Recollections  of  Presidential  Campaigns. 192 

Fish  at  Salem  Dam 195 

My  First  Pair  of  Boots. 196 

The  Old  Schoolhouse  on  the  Hill 198 

A  Deer  Hunt 199 

George  Kirby  of  Sandridge 200 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Old  Time   Stories 203 

Judge  Joseph  H.  Pillsbury 206 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Reminiscences  of  Menard  County 208 

Early    Settlements 211 

Lincoln  and  the  Bull 216 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Anecdotes  of  Menard 217 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

Navigation   of  the   Sangamon 222 

Warlike   Spirit  of   Menard   County 223 

Some    Early    Settlers 226 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

City  of   Petersburg : 239 

Athens    245 

A  Letter  from  H.  L.  Ross 246 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 
History  of  Mason  County 253 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

Havana    Township 260 

City  of  Havana 264 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

Bath    Township 267 

The  County  Seat  Question 275 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 
Lynchburg  Township 278 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
•Quiver    Township 283 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
Forest  City  Township '. 289 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Manito    Township : 294 

The  Allwood  Tragedy 301 

Village  of  Manito 302 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

Allen's  Grove  Township 305 

Village  of  San  Jose 309 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Pennsylvania  Township 311 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
Sherman  Township 316 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Mason   City  Township 321 

City  Public  Schools 327 

Religious    Societies 327 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Kilbourne  Township 33 1 

Village   of   Kilbourne 336 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

Crane  Creek  Township 338. 

Walker's    Grove 342 

Religious  Services 343 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
Salt  Creek 345 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

Henry   Onstot 351 

The   Old   Home 353 

Sand   Burrs 355 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

Pen  Picture  of  Col.  John  E.   Neikirk 357 

Reverdy  J.  Onstot 360 

A    Hustler 361 

CHAPTER  XL. 

The  Early  Settlement  of  Havana 365 

An  Indian  Battle  at  Havana 368 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

The  Old  Havana  Hotel 373 

The  Early  Settlement  of  Mason  County 377 

Spring    Lake 379 


CHAPTER  XLII. 


Havana  from  1845  to  I^o  ..................................  384 

The  Churches  .............................................  387 

Robert   McReynolds  ........................................  390 

The   Howell   Family  ........................................  392 

Other  Old   Settlers  ........................................  392 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 

Dr.  Charles  Newton  .......................................  395 

The  Old  and  the   New  ....................................  397 

Riverside    Park  ............................................  399 


Cist  of  Illustrations 

T.  G.  Onstot Frontispiece 

Abraham  Lincoln 17 

Lincoln's  Residence  at  Springfield,  Illinois 31 

Lincoln's   Monument   at   Springfield,   Illinois 47 

Lincoln's  Old  Home  at  Salem,  Illinois 62 

"The  Three  Graces" 84 

Peter    Cartright 102 

Plat  of  Salem  in  1837 J46 

Judge  Joseph  H.  Pillsbury 206 

Harvey   Lee   Ross 247 


SALUTATORY. 

When  first  I  took  my  pen  in  hand 
This  for  to  write,  I  did  not  understand 
That  I  at  all  should  make  a  book. 

In  more  than  twenty  things  I  set  down, 
This  done  I  had  twenty  more  in  my  crown; 
And  they  began  to  multiply 
Like  the  sparks  that  from  the  coals  do  fly. 

Well,  so  I  did,  but  yet  did  not  think 
To  show  to  all  the  world  my  pen  and  ink; 
In  such  a  mode  I  only  thought  to  make, 
I  knew  not  what,  nor  did  I  undertake 

Thereby  to  please  by  neighbor;  no,  not  I; 

I  did  it  mine  ownself  to  gratify. 

Thus  I  set  pen  to  paper  with  delight, 

And  quickly  had  my  thoughts  in  black  and  white. 

For,  having  now  my  methods  by  the  end, 

Still  as  I  pulled  it  came,  and  so  I  penned 

It  down  until  at  last  it  came  to  be 

For  length  and  breadth  and  thickness  as  you  see. 

Well,  when  I  put  my  ends  together 
I  showed  them  to  others  that  I  might  see  whether 
They  would  condemn  them  or  them  justify — 
Some  said  let  them  live,  some  let  them  die; 

Some  said  print  it,  T.  G.,  others  said  no; 
Some  it  might  do  good,  others  said  not  so. 

Now  I  was  in  a  strait  and  did  not  see 
What  was  the  best  thing  for  me  to  do; 
At  last  I  thought  since  you  are  thus  divided, 
I  print  it  will  and  so  the  case  was  decided. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

We  make  no  apology  in  appearing  before  the  public  as. 
a  literary  crank.  When  we  first  began  to  publish  these  let- 
ters in  the  papers  a  few  years  ago  we  little  thought  to  have 
them  in  book  form.  Like  Harriett  Beecher  Stowe,  whert 
writing  the  letters  that  finally  crystallized  into  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin,"  we  wrote  as  the  spirit  moved.  Our  Menard  county 
friends  insisted  that  these  old-time  reminiscences  be  put  in 
shape  by  one  who  had  lived  through  the  formation  period — 
should  connect  the  past.  One  who  had  lived  under  the  old 
dispensation  should  hand  down  to  those  who  live  under  the 
new  dispensation  the  pioneer  life  of  their  ancestors ;  and  they 
insist  more  strongly  because  the  old  pioneers  are  passing" 
away  and  a  few  more  fleeting  years  and  they  will  all  be 
gone.  We  were  born  in  Sugar  Grove,  in  1829,  and  being" 
blessed  with  a  retentive  memory  know  as  much  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Menard  and  Mason,  as  any  man  now  living.  In 
our  early  boyhood  the  Indian  yell  was  still  heard  along  the 
bluffs  of  Salt  Creek. 

We  have  lived  to  see  this  country  grow  to  be  intelligent, 
educated  and  refined.  All  of  the  useful  inventions  of  today 
have  been  perfected  in  our  time.  The  present  generation 
knows  but  little  of  what  its  fathers  had  to  contend  with.  We 
acknowledge  obligations  to  Harvey  L.  Ross  of  Oakland, 
California,  for  many  events  in  the  Salem  life  of  Abraham- 
Lincoln.  He  carried  the  mail  on  horseback  from  Lewis- 
town  to  Springfield  when  Salem  was  the  only  town  between 
Havana  and  Springfield,  and  was  probably  better  acquainted 
with  him  than  any  man  living. 

We  are  also  indebted  to  General  Ruggles  for  dates  to- 
many  of  the  Mason  county  incidents,  and  to  R.  D.  Miller 
for  dates  to  many  Menard  county  occurrences.  We  obtained 
their  permission  to  do  this. 


There  was  a  Menard  and  Mason  county  write-up  about 
twenty  years  ago,  but  it  was  expensive  and  but  few  bought 
it  and  not  one  in  fifty  ever  read  it.  This  book  sold  for  $8. 
Later  a  history  of  Mason  and  Tazewell  counties  was  gotten 
up  that  sold  for  $15,  which  put  it  out  of  the  reach  of  com- 
mon people.  Our  book,  at  the  price  of  $2.50,  condenses  the 
facts  and  incidents  of  the  pioneers  and  supplies  the  place  of 
both  for  a  small  sum  of  money. 

The  Salem  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  is  well  worth  the 
price  of  the  book.  There  may  be  some  mistakes  in  the  book 
but  in  the  main  we  believe  it  to  be  correct.  We  have  been 
in  no  hurry  in  writing  the  book;  it  has  been  three  years  in 
preparation. 

We  have  counted  Abraham  Lincoln  as  one  of  Menard's 
early  pioneers,  as  it  was  here  he  lived  during  his  formative 
period  of  life,  and  it  was  here  that  Peter  Cartright  would 
often  come  while  he  was  in  political  life.  These  two  celeb- 
rities ought  to  give  Salem  a  name  to  live  in  future  genera- 
tions; so  we  send  this  volume  out  to  all  classes.  The  old 
will  read  what  the  pioneers  did  for  the  upbuilding  of  this 
country;  the  young  will  read  it  although  some  parts  may 
seem  like  romance. 


OP 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


Reminiscences  of  Cincoln 


CHAPTER    I. 

N  1832  a  large  territory  of  land,  known  as  the 
Black  Hawk  purchase,  embrating  the  state  of 
Iowa,  was  opened  for  settlement,  and  the  tide 
of  emigration  set  out  that  way. 

In  our  earliest  recollection,  Iowa  was  the  terminus  of 
emigration,  and  when  a  man  had  cattle  or  milch  cows  for  sale 
he  drove  them  to  the  mines,  which  were  adjacent.  It  was 
the  only  market.  Some  misunderstanding  occurred  and 
Black  Hawk  refused  to  vacate,  the  settlers  were  at  the  mercy 
of  the  Indian  warriors.  Volunteers  were  called  for.  As  the 
requisite  number  did  not  answer,  the  call  for  a  draft  was 
ordered,  and  my  father  was  drafted.  Lincoln  was  the  cap- 
tain of  a  company.  As  my  father  had  a  family  of  small 
children,  and  could  not  well  go,  he  hired  a  substitute,  a 
young  man  who  had  come  to  Salem  at  that  time  by  the  name 
of  John  Hillis,  who  agreed  to  go  in  his  place,  my  father 
-giving  him  thirty  dollars  and  his  rifle.  Lincoln's  company 
left  for  the  scene  of  action  but  never  saw  any  Indians,  as 
the  dispute  was  settled  and  Black  Hawk  left  the  country. 
Thus  ended  Lincoln's  military  career,  till  by  virtue  of  his 
authority  as  president,  he  was  commander-in-chief  of  the 
army  of  the  United  States.  We  will  now  relate  Lincoln's 
duel  with  James  Shields.  Shields  was  an  Irishman,  nervous 


i8  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

and  fidgety.  The  trouble  was  in  1842.  A  piece  of  poetry 
appeared  in  the  Springfield  Journal,  which  was  rather  per- 
sonal and  sarcastic  on  Shields,  who  was  a  bachelor.  He 
swore  vengeance  on  the  unknown  writer,  who  was  known 
by  Lincoln  to  be  a  lady  of  high  standing.  Shields  grew  more 
war-like,  but  could  not  find  out  who  the  author  was.  Lin 
coin,  in  a  peculiar  way,  sent  word  to  Shields  that  he  was 
the  man.  Lincoln  was  attending  court  at  Tremont  at  the 
time  when  he  received  a  challenge  from  Shields  who  de- 
manded satisfaction  or  blood. 

Abe  accepted  the  challenge  for  a  duel  and  chose  for 
weapons,  broad  swords,  which  were  about  the  length  and 
size  of  a  mowing  scythe.  Shields  protested  against  the 
weapons  as  not  being  fair,  as  he  was  of  small  stature,  and  his 
opponent  had  double  the  reach,  but  Lincoln  had  the  choice 
of  weapons,  according  to  the  code  of  dueling.  There  was  an 
island  opposite  St.  Louis  and  Illinois  that  was  not  supposed 
to  belong  to  either,  and  here  in  early  days  many  a  bloody 
conflict  took  place  and  the  principals  were  secure  from  ar- 
rest, qnd  well  had  it  earned  the  name  of  Bloody  Island. 

From  Springfield  to  this  historical  spot  was  one  hundred 
miles  and  the  only  means  of  conveyance  was  the  overland 
route  and  two  days  were  required  for  the  journey.  Both  men 
and  their  friends  started  on  the  journey  at  the  same  time. 
Abe  employed  his  time  while  waiting  for  Shields  with  his 
coat  off,  trimming  up  the  under-brush  and  humming  "Yan- 
kee Doodle."  In  a  short  time  the  other  parties  arrived  and 
their  mutual  friends  began  to  arrange  for  the  conflict. 

Thanks  to  our  advanced  civilization,  the  "barbarous 
code"  is  no  longer  tolerated  and  the  man  who  refuses  a  chal- 
lenge is  a  braver  man  than  the  one  who  sends  it.  The 
Yankee  way  is  to  argue  the  man  out  of  it  and  "he  who  runs 
away  may  live  to  fight  another  day."  After  the  belligerents 
had  left  Springfield,  John  J.  Hardin,  of  Jacksonville,  one 
of  the  grandest  men  of  Illinois,  hearing  of  the  circum- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  19 

stances,  determined  to  prevent  the  carrying  out  of  the  pro- 
g-ram, and  though  they  had  several  hours  the  start,  and  he 
had  an  equal  distance  to  travel,  set  out  for  the  race.  But 
there  was  a  road  from  Jacksonville,  "a  good  broad  highway 
leading  down,  and,  there  through  the  flush  of  morning  light, 
as  still  and  black  as  the  steeds  of  night,  was  -seen  to  pass, 
as  with  an  eagle's  flight,  as  if  he  knew  the  terrible  need,  he 
stretched  away  with  the  utmost  speed."  Before  he  finished 
the  journey,  his  horse  gave  out  and  he  procured  another. 
"The  heart  of  the  master,  the  heart  of  the  steed,  were  beating 
like  prisoners  assaulting  their  walls  impatient  to  be  where 
the  battle  field  calls."  Every  nerve  of  the  charger  was 
strained  to  full  play.  Arriving  on  the  ground  just  as  the 
combatants  were  getting  ready  for  battle,  Hardin  rushed 
in  between  them,  and  by  curses  compelled  them  to  make 
friends  and  go  home  and  not  make  such  fools  of  themselves. 
Lincoln  and  Shields  shook  hands  over  the  bloody  chasm  and 
were  friends  ever  afterward. 

The  suspense  at  Petersburg  where  I  then  lived,  was 
intense.  There  were  no  railroads,  telegraphs  or  telephone, 
and  it  was  three  days  before  we  were  informed  of  the  happy 
termination  of  the  affair.  There  was  only  one  opinion  as  to 
what  the  termination  would  have  been  had  the  affair  pro- 
ceeded. Lincoln,  by  his  superior  skill  and  strength,  would 
have  disarmed  his  opponent.  Shields  rose  to  distinction, 
and  was  shot  through  the  breast  in  the  Mexican  war  and 
left  for  dead,  but  recovered  and  became  a  prominent  poli- 
tician in  Illinois,  went  to  the  United  States  Senate,  then 
went  to  Missouri  where  he  was  again  elected  to  the  senate, 
then  to  California  where  he  was  again  sent  to  the  senate. 
Thus  he  was  senator  from  three  states,  and  didn't  have  to 
buy  his  seat  either  as  senators  have  to  do  now.  Where  was 
Lincoln's  great  power  some  may  ask?  It  was  because  he 
was  a  man  of  the  people.  The  common  people  from  which 


2O  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

he  sprang ;  he  always  had  their  interest  at  heart  and  be- 
lieved that  this  was  a  government  of  the  people,  and  by  the 
people.  Though  a  lawyer  by  profession  he  never  encour- 
aged neighbors  to  spend  their  time  and  money  in  litiga- 
tion. We  were  shown  a  letter  by  Ida  Ball,  of  Menard 
county,  where  Mr.  Bates  had  retained  the  services  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  a  case  against  Mr.  Hiccox  about  some  wheat  in 
which  Lincoln  wrote  Bates:  "I  think  if  you  would  see 
Mr.  Hiccox  and  have  a  talk  with  him  you  could  fix  this 
business  up,  which  would  be  better  than  to  have  a  lawsuit 
about  it."  How  many  lawyers  in  Petersburg  would  have 
given  such  advice,  and  yet  this  was  his  way  of  doing,  "fix  it 
up  yourselves."  In  his  debate  with  Douglas,  Lincoln  al- 
ways had  the  advantage,  and  his  arguments  led  to  liberty, 
and  Douglas  always  led  to  human  bondage.  Human  bon- 
dage could  never  be  eulogized,  it  never  could  be  sung  while 
liberty  and  freedom  has  been  sung  by  poets  and  bards  since 
creation.  Ever  since  the  morning  stars  sang  together. 

Lincoln,  as  a  surveyor,  as  we  recollect,  did  most  of  his 
work  north  of  Petersburg,  though  Sangamon  county  ran 
to  the  Illinois  river,  and  the  north  part  of  Mason  county  was 
in  Tazewell  county.  He  laid  out  the  town  of  Bath.  We 
never  heard  of  any  of  his  work  but  what  gave  satisfaction. 
My  brother,  R.  J.  Onstot,  of  Mason  City,  has  a  plat  of 
Huron,  a  town  at  Miller's  ferry  on  the  Sangamon  river. 
The  land  was  bought  by  a  syndicate  before  Menard  county 
was  laid  out  and  was  held  for  a  county  seat.  The  plat  is 
in  good  shape,  the  blocks  run  north  and  south.  My  brother 
values  it  very  much,  as  it  is  Lincoln's  own  hand-writing. 
There  was  a  town  not  far  from  Bill  Smoot's  by  the  name 
of  New  Market  but  these  towns  were  only  on  paper,  and 
when  the  county  seat  was  located,  the  land  upon  which 
no  new  homes  had  been  built  were  again  used  for  farming. 
I  well  recall  when  the  committee,  which  was  appointed  to 
locate,  came  through  Salem,  a  large  crowd  following,  there 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  21 

were  twenty-five  or  thirty  men  or  horseback,  the  only  way 
men  traveled  then,  with  about  a  dozen  dogs  following. 
They  stopped  before  my  father's  shop  and  listened  to  sug- 
gestions, but  I  think  from  the  start  they  had  made  up  their 
minds  to  locate  the  county  house  at  Petersburg.  When 
Mason  county  was  laid  out,  little  Menard  was  then  about 
twenty  miles  square  and  Petersburg  was  in  the  center. 

Lincoln's  wonderful  eloquence  has  never  been  sur- 
passed. His  Gettysburg  speech  has  never  been  equalled,  and 
it  will  go  down  to  the  coming  generations  as  a  model  with- 
out a  peer.  When  he  wrote  it  he  handed  it  to  Seward, 
who  looked  it  over  and  began  to  suggest  errors  and  did 
not  think  it  worthy  of  a  state  paper.  Seward  would  have 
written  five  times  as  much,  and  not  express  one-half  the 
meaning.  His  Cooper  Institute  speech  was  made  before 
the  most  critical  audience  that  ever  assembled  to  hear  a 
man  speak.  Lincoln  was  at  first  a  little  diffident  but  soon 
forgot  his  humble  origin,  and  taking  for  his  text :  "Our 
fathers,  when  they  founded  the  government,  under  which 
we  live,  understood  this  question  just  as  well  and  even 
better  than  we  did."  After  his  speech  he  was  warmly  con 
gratulated  and  the  speech  made  him  president.  The  western 
man  without  fame,  was  at  once  placed  at  the  head  of  living 
statesmen  which  place  he  retained  until  the  hour  of  his 
tragic  death. 


CHAPTER  II. 


HIS  FIRST  LOV£ 

T  THE  time  Mr.  Lincoln  boarded  at  the  Rut- 
ledge  tavern,  Harvey  Ross  also  put  up  there  as 
often  as  he  passed  through  Salem.  It  was  a 
hewn  log  house,  two  stories  high,  with  four 
rooms  above  and  four  below.  It  had  two  chimneys 
with  a  large  fire  place,  and  not  a  stove  in  the  house.  The 
proprietor  was  James  Rutledgera  man  of  more  than  or- 
dinary ability,  and  with  his  wife  kind  and  hospitable.  They 
had  a  large  family  of  eight  or  nine  children,  and  among 
them  their  daughter,  Anna,  celebrated  in  song  and  story  as 
-Lincoln's  sweetheart.  She  was  several  years  younger  than 
Lincoln,  of  medium  size,  weighing  125  pounds  and  had 
flaxen  hair.  She  was  handsome  and  attractive,  as  well  as 
industrious  and  sweet  spirited.  It  was  seldom  that  she  was 
not  engaged  in  some  occupation — knitting,  sewing  or  wait- 
ing on  the  table.  I  think  she  did  the  sewing  for  the  family. 
Lincoln  was  boarding  at  the  tavern,  and  fell  deeply  in  love 
with  the  gentle  Annie,  and  she  was  no  less  in  love  with 
him.  They  were  engaged  to  be  married  but  had  been  put- 
ting the  wedding  off  for  awhile  as  he  wanted  to  accumulate 
a  little  more  property,  and  she  wished  to  attend  school  a 
while  longer.  Before  the  time  had  arrived  when  they  were 
to  be  married,  Miss  Annie  was  taken  down  with  typhoid 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  23 

fever,  and  lay  dangerously  sick  for  four  weeks.  Lincoln 
was  an  anxious  and  constant  watcher  at  her  bedside.  The 
sickness  ended  in  death,  and  young  Lincoln  was  heart  broken 
and  prostrated.  The  histories  have  not  exaggerated  his 
pitiful  grief,  for  he  was  not  able  to  attend  to  business  for 
quite  awhile.  I  think  his  whole  soul  was  wrapped  up  in 
that  lovely  girl.  It  was  his  first  love,  the  holiest  thing  in 
life,  the  love  that  cannot  die.  The  deepest  gloom  settled  over 
his  mind.  He  would  often  say  to  his  friends,  "My  heart  is 
buried  in  the  grave  with  that  dear  girl."  He  would  often 
go  and  sit  by  her  grave  and  read  from  a  little  pocket  testa- 
ment which  he  carried  with  him.  What  he  read  I  know  not. 
but  I'll  warrant  you  it  was,  "Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled," 
or  John's  vision  on  the  Isle  of  Patmos  with  Anna  among 
the  white  robed  throng,  where  sickness,  sorrow,  pain  and 
death  are  feared  no  more;  where  death  is  unknown.  One 
stormy  night  he  was  at  the  house  of  a  friend,  and  as  rain  and 
sleet  came  down  on  the  roof  he  sat  with  bowed  head  and 
tears  trickling  do\vn  his  cheeks.  His  friends  begged  him 
to  control  his  grief.  "I  cannot,"  said  he,  "while  storm  and 
darkness  are  on  her  grave." 

Anna  Rutledge  was  of  gentle  blood  and  would  have 
made  him  a  noble  wife  in  his  humble  years  and  in  the  im- 
perial later  life. 

David  Rutledge,  a  brother  of  Anna,  took  a  course  at 
Jacksonville  college,  and  then  went  to  Lewistown  and  studied 
law  in  the  office  of  L.  W.  Ross  and  Jno.  T  Boice.  He  af- 
terwards married  Miss  Elizabeth  Simms,  and  moved  to 
Petersburg  and  opened  up  a  law  office.  He  was  a  bright 
and  promising  young  lawyer,  and  no  doubt  would  have  made 
his  mark  but  for  his  untimely  death.  He  was  buried  by  the 
side  of  his  sister  in  the  cemetery.  His  widow  married  C.  \Y. 
Andrus,  a  prominent  merchant  of  Havana. 

The  Rutledge  family  stood  high  in  the  country.  Anna's 
father  was  a  South  Carolinian  of  high  birth.  One  of  his 


24  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

ancestors  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Another 
was  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  under  Washington's 
appointment.  A  third  was  a  conspicuous  leader  in  congress. 
So  Lincoln's  boyhood  love  was  of  a  high  and  gentle  birth. 


HIS  SECOND  LOVE 

One  year  after  the  sad  death  of  Anna  Rutledge,  Mr. 
Lincoln  again  fell  in  love.  Miss  Mary  Owens  was  his  second 
sweetheart.  She  came  from  Kentucky  to  visit  her  sister, 
Mrs.  Bennett  Able,  who  lived  just  north  of  Salem.  In  many 
respects  she  was  very  different  from  Anna  Rutledge.  She 
was  older  and  larger.  She  was  finely  educated  and  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  most  refined  society,  and  she  dressed  much 
finer  than  any  lady  who  lived  about  New  Salem.  Her 
fashionable  silk  dress  was  in  striking  contrast  with  the  calico 
dress,  calf  skin  shoes  and  straw  bonnet  that  Anna  had  worn 
She  was  in  the  habit  of  making  frequent  visits  to  the  post- 
office  for  letters  from  her  Kentucky  home,  and  that  was 
where  Lincoln  first  became  acquainted  with  her.  It  was 
not  long  until  he  became  a  frequent  visitor  at  her  sister's 
home,  and  these  visits  continued  until  her  return  to  Ken- 
tucky. It  became  the  gossip  of  the  neighborhood  that  they 
were  to  be  married.  When  the  gossip  was  repeated  to  Lin- 
coln by  a  friend  he  replied,  "If  ever  that  girl  comes  back  to 
New  Salem  I  am  going  to  marry  her."  In  about  three  years 
Miss  Mary  did  return,  but  Lincoln  did  not  marry  her,  and 
I  presume  the  readers  will  want  to  know  the  secret  of  it 
all.  They  did  not  agree,  and  she  would  not  consent  to  the 
marriage.  On  this  point  Miss  Mary  is  reported  to  have  said 
that  there  \vere  many  things  she  liked  and  other  things  she 
did  not  like,  and  the  things  she  did  not  like  overbalanced 
the  things  she  did  like.  "I  could  not  help  admire  Mr. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  25 

Lincoln,"  she  said,  "for  his  honesty,  truthfulness  and  good- 
ness of  heart,  but  I  think  he  was  a  little  too  presumptuous 
when  he  told  his  friend  that  if  I  ever  came  back  to  New 
Salem  he  was  going  to  marry  me.  That  is  a  bargain  that 
it  takes  two  to  make,  and  then  his  training  and  bringing  up 
has  been  so  different  from  my  own,  and  his  uncouth  be- 
havior was  most  disagreeable.  He  was  lacking  in  those  little 
links  which  make  up  the  chain  of  a  woman's  happiness. 
At  least  that  was  my  judgment.  He  was  not  the  ideal  hus- 
band that  I  had  pictured  to  myself  that  I  could  love.  He 
asked  me  to  become  his  wife;  I  told  him  no." 

In  our  next  we  will  give  Mr.  Lincoln's  side  of  the  story. 
He  had  a  lady  friend  whom  he  confided  in  and  advised  with 
in  many  of  his  private  affairs.  She  had  learned  that  he 
was  engaged  to  Miss  Mary  and  that  the  engagement  was 
broken  off,  and  she  wanted  to  know  the  cause.  So  he  wrote 
her  a  letter  and  it  is  presumed  he  did  not  expect  the  letter 
to  go  out  of  her  possession  unless  it  went  into  the  fire,  but 
as  time  went  on  it  did  get  out  of  her  hands. 

'After  James  Rutledge  moved  out  of  the  log  tavern  my 
father,  Henry  Onstott,  moved  in  and  occupied  it  from  1833 
till  1835,  and  still  had  for  a  boarder  Abraham  Lincoln. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  my  early  impressions  of  him  were 
formed.  We  did  not  know  at  that  time  that  we  were  enter- 
taining an  angel  unawares.  My  first  knowledge  of  him  was 
as  a  great  marble  player.  He  kept  us  small  boys  running 
in  all  directions  gathering  up  the  marbles  he  would  scatter. 
During  this  time  he  followed  surveying,  having  learned  in 
six  weeks  from  books  furnished  him  by  John  Calhoun,  of 
Springfield.  About  this  time  he  commenced  to  read  some 
law  book  which  he  borrowed  of  Bowling  Green,  who  lived 
one-half  mile  north  of  Salem.  I  think  my  father  and 
Esquire  Green  did  more  than  any  other  two  men  in  deter- 
mining Lincoln's  future  destiny.  Green  died  in  1844  before 
Lincoln  developed  future  greatness,  while  my  father  lived  to 


26  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

see  him  at  his  zenith,  and  his  sun  go  down  undimmed,  and 
a  whole  nation  of  mourners  around  his  bier. 

After  the  refusal  of  Mary  Owens  to  marry  Lincoln  a 
lady  friend  knowing  the  circumstances  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  ascertain  the  reason  of  the  refusal,  to  which  he  replied  : 

"Springfield,  111.,  April  i,  1838. — Dear  Madam: — It  was 
in  the  autumn  of  1836  that  a  married  lady,  Mrs.  Bennett 
Able,  of  my  acquaintance,  who  was  a  great  friend  of  mine, 
being  about  to  pay  her  father  a  visit  in  Kentucky,  proposed 
to  me  that  on  her  return  she  would  bring  a  sister  of  her's 
back  with  her  on  condition  that  I  would  become  her  brother- 
in-law.  With  all  convenient  dispatch  I  of  course  accepted 
the  proposal,  for  you  know7  I  would  not  have  done  otherwise 
had  I  been  averse  to  it,  but  between  you  and  me  I  was  most 
confoundedly  well  pleased  with  the  project.  I  had  seen  her 
sister  some  years  before  and  thought  her  agreeable  and  in- 
telligent and  sa\v  no  good  reason  and  no  objection  to  plod- 
ding along  through  life  hand  to  hand  with  her.  Time 
passed.  The  lady  took  her  journey  in  clue  time  and  returned, 
her  sister  in  company  with  her.  This  astonished  me  a  little 
for  it  appeared  to  me  that  her  coming  so  readily  showed  that 
she  was  a  trifle  too  willing,  but  on  reflection  it  occurred  to  v 
me  that  she  might  have  been  prevailed  upon  by  her  married 
sister  to  come  without  anything  concerning  me  ever  having 
been  mentioned  to  her,  so  I  concluded  that  if  no  other  ob- 
jection presented  itself  I  would  consent  to  the  plan.  All 
this  occurred  to  me  on  hearing  of  her  arrival  in  the  neigh- 
borhood for  be  it  remembered  that  I  had  not  seen  her  except 
about  three  years  previous  as  above  mentioned.  In  a  few 
days  we  had  an  interview  and  although  I  had  seen  her  be- 
fore she  did  not  look  as  my  imagination  had  pictured  her. 
I  knew  she  was  over  size,  but  she  now  appeared  a  match  for 
'Falstaff.'  I  knew  she  was  called  an  old  maid  and  I  felt  the 
truth  of  one-half  the  application,  but  now  when  I  beheld 
her  I  could  not  help  thinking  of  my  mother,  and  this  not 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  27 

from  her  withered  features  for  her  skin  was  too  full  of  fat 
to  permit  it  to  wrinkle,  but  from  her  want  of  teeth  and 
weatherbeaten  appearance  in  general  and  from  a  kind  of 
a  notion  that  ran  in  my  head  that  nothing  could  have  com- 
menced in  infancy  and  reached  her  present  •  bulk  in  less 
than  thirty-five  or  forty  years.  In  short  I  was  not  we'll 
pleased  with  her,  but  what  could  I  do.  I  told  her  sister  I 
would  take  her  for  better  or  worse  and  made  it  a  point  of 
honor  in  all  things  to  stick  to  my  word,  especially  if  others 
had  been  induced  to  act  on  it,  which  in  this  case  I  had  no 
doubt  they  had.  I  was  now  convinced  that  no  other  man  on 
earth  would  have  her  and  hence  they  were  bent  on  holding 
me  to  the  bargain.  Well,  thought  I,  I  have  said  it  and 
may  the  consequences  be  \vhat  they  may,  it  shall  not  be  my 
fault  if  I  fail  to  do  it.  At  once  I  determined  to  consider 
my  wife.  This  done  all  my  powers  of  discovery  were  put 
to  work  in  search  of  perfections  which  might  upset  her 
defects.  I  tried  to  imagine  her  handsome,  \vhich,  but  for 
her  corp4jency  was  true.  Exclusive  of  this  no  woman  I  had 
ever  seea^had  a  -fairer  face.  I  also  tried  to  convince  my- 
self that  the  mind  was  nTuch  more  to  be  valued  than  the 
lace  and  in»this  she  was  not  inferior,  as  I  could  discover, 
to  anyone  with  whom  I  was  acquainted.  Shortly  after,  with- 
out coming  to  an  understanding  with  her,  J  set  out  for  Van- 
dalia  to  take  my  sefet  in  the  legislature.  During  my  short 
stay  there  I  had  letters  from  her  which  did  not  change  my 
opinion  of  her  intellect  or  intention,  but  on  the  contrary 
confirmed  it  in  both.  All  this  time  I  was  fixed  firm  in  my 
resolution.  I  found  that  I  was  continually  repenting  of 
the  rashness  that  had  led  me  to  make  it.  After  my  return 
home  I  saw  nothing  to  change  my  opinion  of  her.  She 
•vvas  the  same  and  so  was  I.  I  now  spent  my  time  in 
planning  how  I  might  get  along  in  life  after  my  changed 
condition,  how  I  might  put  off  the  evil  day,  which  I  really 
dreaded  as  the  Irishman  the  halter.  And  now  vou  want  to 


28  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

know  how  I  got  out  of  the  scrape  clear  in  every  sense  of 
the  term  with  no  violation  of  word  or  honor.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve you  can  guess  so  I  will  tell  you.  As  the  lawyer  says 
it  was  done  in  this  manner,  to-wit :  After  I  had  delayed 
the  matter  as  long  as  I  thought  I  could  I  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  I  might  as  well  bring  the  matter  to  a  close 
so  I  mustered  up  courage  and  proposed  to  her  direct,  but 
shocking  to  relate  she  answered,  'No.'  I  first  thought  she 
did  it  through  modesty,  which  I  did  not  think  becoming 
under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  but  on  renewing  my 
suit  she  repelled  it  with  greater  firmness  than  before.  I  tried 
it  again  and  again  with  the  same  success  or  rather  want 
of  success.  I  was  finally  forced  to  give  it  up  and  found 
myself  mortified  beyond  endurance :  I  was  mortified  it 
seemed  in  a  hundred  ways.  My  vanity  was  deeply  wounded 
by  the  reflection  that  I  had  been  too  stupid  to  discover  her 
intentions  and  at  the  same  time  never  doubting  that  I  un- 
derstood them  perfectly  and  that  she  whom  I  had  taught  my- 
self to  believe  would  have  been  the  last  to  reject  me — me 
with  all  my  greatness — and  then  to  cap  the  whole  thing  I 
began  to  suspect  that  I  was  really  in  love  with  her.  But 
let  it  all  go.  I'll  try  to  out-live  it.  Others  have  been  made 
fools  of  by  girls  but  this  can  never  be  said  of  me.  In  this 
instance  I  made  a  fool  of  myself.  I  now  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  never  again  to  think  of  marrying  and  for  the 
reason  that  I  never  could  be  satisfied  with  anyone  who 
would  be  blockhead  enough  to  have  me.  Your  sincere 
friend.  A.  LINCOLN. 

Mr.  Lincoln  was  noted  for  his  kindness  and  when  he 
could  exercise  it  he  always  did.  One  of  the  many  examples 
of  his  kind-hearted  nature  recently  came  to  light  among 
the  papers  in  the  war  department  at  Washington.  It  was 
a  letter  from  a  young  woman  in  a  western  state  asking 
for  the  return  of  her  sweetheart  who  was  at  that  lime  a 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  29 

soldier  in  the  union  army.  .In  a  pathetic  way  she  told  how 
in  the  beginning  of  the  war  she  was  engaged  and  her  lover 
had  gone  to  the  front  promising  to  return  and  make  her 
his  bride.  Over  a  year  had  passed  and  her  lover  was  ly- 
ing wounded  in  a  hospital.  The  young  woman  said  that 
if  the  soldier  did  not  return  she  would  die  of  a -broken  heart. 
Whether  the  lovers  were  reunited  the  records  do  not  show 
but  the  papers  bear  evidence  that  the  appeal  touched  the 
heart  of  the  president  for  across  the  back  is  written  in  his 
own  handwriting  "Let  her  go  to  him."  A.  LINCOLN. 

It  would  seem  that  after  the  death  of  Anna  Rutledge 
and  the  refusal  of  Mary  Owens,  Mr.  Lincoln  would  have 
been  discouraged  in  his  matrimonial  attempts,  but  it  was 
not  so  in  his  case.  It  is  an  old  saying  that  there  are  as  good 
fish  in  the  sea  as  ever  were  caught.  After  his  removal  to 
Springfield  he  was  thrown  into  different  society  and  with 
his  genial  good  nature  he  was  not  destined  to  live  an  old 
bachelor.  We  shall  give  his  third  and  last  love. 

By  his  marriage  with  Mary  Todd  there  were  three 
children  so  the  name  of  Lincoln  was  perpetuated.  We 
have  met  Robert  Lincoln  several  times  but  there  is  not 
the  least  resemblance  to  his  father  in  his  make-up.  He  is 
a  short,  heavy-set  man  with  a  broad  face  and  heavy  eye- 
brows. He  resembles  the  Todds  and  not  the  Lincolns. 

%  ^C  ^t  5j! 

We  received  a  letter  from  Harvey  L.  Ross,  Oakland, 
Cal.,  in  which  he  says:  "I  am  glad  you  are  writing  a  his- 
tory of  Mason  and  Menard  counties.  I  lived  in  what  is 
known  as  Mason  county  and  I  knew  every  man,  woman 
and  child  and  almost  every  horse  and  dog.  I  am  glad  that 
my  brother  Leonard  sent  you  a  copy  of  my  book  and  you 
are  welcome  to  copy  from  it  when  you  wish.  I  did  not 
get  my  book  out  to  sell  or  make  money  but  for  the  ac- 
commodation of  my  relatives  and  friends  in  order  that 


30  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

they  may  have  a  correct  knowledge  of  the  events  that  took 
place  in  those  old  pioneer  days.  There  were  some  of  my 
letters  I  wrote  for  the  Fulton  County  Democrat,  which  got 
lost  and  when  the  book  came  out  I  found  they  \vere  not 
in  it  and  I  thought  that  if  you  were  going  to  get  up  a  book  I 
would  write  them  over  and  send  them  to  you  and  if  you 
thought  they  would  be  of  any  benefit  to  you,  you  could  use 
them.  If  I  can  render  you  any  assistance  in  getting  up  your 
book  I  will  do  so  and  all  I  will  charge  you  is  a  copy  of 
your  book  when  it  is  printed.  I  am  now  in  my  eighty-third 
year.  My  health  is  good  and  I  can  remember  many  of 
the  early  events  that  took  place  in  those  counties.  I  believe 
you  can  get  up  a  good  and  correct  history  of  Mason  and 
Menard  counties.  If  there  is  anything  you  would  like  to 
ask  me  about  I  will  be  pleased  to  give  you  all  the  informa- 
tion that  I  can." 


LINCOLN'S  THIRD  LOVE 

It  may  be  supposed  that  after  two  failures,  Lincoln 
would  go  slow  in  matrimonial  ventures,  but  the  duel  with 
Shields  had  a  broader  meaning  than  most  people  imagine, 
and  the  green-eyed  monster,  jealousy,  had  much  to  do 
with  it. 

Miss  Mary  Todd  was  a  fine  cultured  lady,  and  Shields, 
Lincoln,  Stephen  A.  Douglas  and  some  other  lawyers  about 
Springfield  had  been  paying  considerable  attention  to  her, 
and  Shields  became  deeply  enamored  with  her.  He  had 
served  in  the  legislature  with  a  great  deal  of  credit,  and  was 
then  holding  the  office  of  State  Auditor,  and  besides  being 
an  able  lawyer  he  was  quite  popular  in  the  Democratic 
party.  Miss  Mary  was  a  handsome,  brilliant  and  highly 
educated  young  lady,  and  was  respectably  connected  in 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  31 

Springfield,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  Shields  wanted  her 
to  become  his  wife,  but  Lincoln  was  his  rival  and  appeared 
to  have  the  preference  with  Miss  Tocld,  so  when  the  article 
appeared  in  the  Springfield  papers  that  Shields  objected 
to  which  was  no  doubt  written  by  Mary,  it  gave  him  an 
excuse  to  challenge  Lincoln  to  mortal  combat.  The  terms 
were  so  fixed  that  it  gave  Lincoln  the  advantage  with  his 
long  legs  and  arms,  while  Shields  was  a  short  man  with 


LINCOLN'S  RESIDENCE  AT  SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. 

short  arms  and  legs.  The  result  would  be  that  Lincoln, 
by  stooping  over  with  his  long  arms,  could -tickle  Shields 
very  uncomfortably  about  his  ribs  with  the  point  of  his 
sword,  while  Shields  could  not  reach  Lincoln  by  twelve  or 
fifteen  inches.  It  would  have  placed  Shields  completely  at 
the  mercy  of  Lincoln,  but  in  all  the  world  he  could  not 
have  been  in  kinder  hands,  for  it  never  was  in  Lincoln's 


32  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

big  and  tender  heart  to  have  hurt  a  human  being  except  in 
self  defense.  But  when  Hardin  appeared  on  the  ground 
and  declared  the  matter  had  to  stop,  as  there  was  nothing 
to  fight  about  but  a  little  miserable  understanding,  and  if 
Shields  would  withdraw  the  offensive  letter  that  Lincoln 
would  give  a  satisfactory  explanation.  Hardin's  advice  was 
taken,  and  Lincoln  explained  for  the  lady  that  the  article 
was  not  intended  to  reflect  on  Shields.  Shields  was  satisfied 
and  the  fight  was  declared  off.  The  woman  was  kept  in 
the  background. 

Now  it  is  probable  that  there  was  not  another  man 
in  Sangamon  county  at  that  time  who,  if  he  had  received 
such  a  challenge,  would  not  have  made  up  his  mind  that  he 
had  to  back  down  and  confess  that  he  was  afraid  to  fight 
or  stand  up  to  the  racket,  but  as  we  have  hinted  that  a 
woman  was  involved,  and  Lincoln  with  his  great  mind  and 
common  sense  came  out  victorious  and  nobody  hurt.  Lin- 
coln afterwards  told  his  friends  that  he  did  not  want  to 
hurt  his  rival ;  that  he  had  nothing  against  him,  but  that 
if  he  had  paid  no  attention  to  the  challenge  Shields  would 
have  said  he  was  a  coward  and  had  showed  the  white 
feather,  and  he  would  teach  him  to  behave  himself. 

"Herridon's  Life  of  Lincoln"  says  that  Lincoln  and 
Shields  were  to  stand  twelve  feet  apart  in  their  duel,  which 
was  a  mistake,  as  the  rule  was  twice  the  distance  of  one  of 
the  swords.  He  describes  Shields  as  a  hot-headed,  blustering 
Irishman  of  little  prominence,  when  he  was  a  man  of  great 
ability.  He  served  as  Advocate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
was  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  and  had  the 
rare  distinction  of  being  at  different  times  Senator  from 
Illinois,  Missouri  and  California,  which  honor  we  think 
was  never  enjoyed  by  any  .other  man.  He  was  also  a  gallant 
officer  in  the  Mexican  war  and  the  war  of  the  rebellion. 
After  Lincoln  was  president,  he  remembered  his  old  friend 
who  was  a  rival  for  his  sweetheart — who  would  have  fought 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  33 

a  duel  for  her  hand,  and  showed  his  kind  and  forgiving 
spirit  by  presenting  Shields  with  a  Brigadier-General's  com- 
mission. So  Shields  must  have  been  a  man  of  considerable 
ability  to  have  held  these  positions.  He  was  a  grand  and 
patriotic  man.  How  wonderful  was  the  tact  of  Lincoln  in 
averting  with  honor  to  himself  the  duel  that  might  have 
robbed  our  country  of  two  such  men. 

In  due  time  Lincoln  and  Miss  Mary  Todd  \vere  married. 
She  was  of  a  high  bred  family  of  Kentucky,  and  entirely 
different  from  Abe  in  every  particular.  Her  relatives  were 
all  rebels,  several  of  her  brothers  holding  commissions  in 
the  rebel  army,  and  it  is  not  my  province  as  a  historian  to 
speak  of  the  influence  they  might  have  exerted  over  a  part 
of  the  president's  household.  The  poor  woman  had  trouble 
enough  in  her  declining  days  to  have  unsettled  stronger 
minds.  Let  the  veil  of  charity  be  drawn  over  her  life. 


LINCOLN'S  MARRIAGE 

By  permission  of  Mrs.  Ben  Edwards  we  are  permitted 
to  publish  the  account  of  the  wedding  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
to  Miss  Mary  Todd  in  Springfield  in  November,  1842. 
Mrs.  Edwards  is  the  only  person,  now  living,  who  was  at 
the  wedding.  This  letter  will  set  at  rest  W.  H.  Herndon's 
wild  vagaries  concerning  Lincoln's  marriage. 

A  few  weeks  ago  while  in  Springfield  we  called  at  the 
Edwards'  mansion.  It  is  situated  in  the  middle  of  a  block 
and  the  house  must  have  been  built  sixty  years  ago,  and 
though  Ben  Edwards  must  have  been  dead  many  years  ago, 
the  house  and  grounds  are  carefully  kept.  The  house  is 
surrounded  with  flower  beds  and  ornamental  shrubbery  with 
fine  stone  walks  leading  from  the  house  and  blue  grass  plats 
all  over  the  yard.  The  house  is  very  large  and  commodious. 


34  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

We  well  remember  Ben  Edwards  when  he  used  to  come 
to  Petersburg  courts  and  at  one  time  was  a  partner  of 
Lincoln's.  We  felt  kind  of  high  reverence  as  we  entered 
the  historic  grounds.  The  wife  of  Ninian  Edwards  was  a 
sister  of  Mrs.  Lincoln's,  who  also  took  part  in  the  wedding, 
but  who  has  long  since  passed  away,  as  have  most  of  the 
actors  in  the  scenes  of  those  early  days.  The  Edwards' 
mansion  is  about  ten  blocks  northwest  of  the  old  Lincoln 
home. 

Mrs.  Edwards  gave  an  account  of  the  events  leading 
up  to  the  marriage  of  Lincoln.  She  says  that  Mary  Todd 
had  naturally  a  fine  mind  and  a  cultivated  taste.  She  was 
a  thinker  and  possessed  a  remarkable  memory.  Her 
brilliant  conversation  often  embellished  with  apt  quotations 
made  her  society  much  sought  after  by  all  the  young  people 
of  the  town.  She  was  also  quick  at  repartee  and  when  oc 
casion  seemed  to  require  it,  was  sarcastic  and  severe. 

About  the  time  Mrs.  Edwards  came  to  Springfield,  in 
1840,  Springfield  society  contained  some  of  the  brightest 
young  men  that  any  state  could  produce — men  whose  names 
hold  a  prominent  place  in  Illinois  history.  During  the  ses- 
sions of  the  Illinois  legislature  among  these  were  Isaac 
Arnold,  J.  L.  Scammon,  Lyman  Trumbull,  Mark  Skinner. 
William  B.  Ogden  and  others.  Besides  our  bright  particular 
stars,  of  whom  I  will  name  only  Abraham  Lincoln  and 
Stephen  A.  Douglas,  the  Little  Giant,  there  were  others 
whose  names  stand  high  on  the  roll  of  honor  in  our 
own  state.  These  legislative  assemblies  were  always  the 
occasion  for  many  social  gatherings  for  distinguished  men 
from  every  part  of  the  state  who  came  to  the  capital  and 
were  always  royally  entertained  by  our  ladies  whose  hos- 
pitality was  noted  all  over  the  state. 

There  was  then  a  galaxy  of  beautiful  girls,  with  vivacity 
and  intelligence  and  propriety  of  deportment. 

All  thought  that  Mr.  Douglas  was  more  assidious  in  his 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  35 

attentions  than  Mr.  Lincoln.  Some  of  Mr.  Edwards'  cousins 
were  visiting  and  making  a  gay  company  and  as  Mr.  Ed- 
wards' home  was  not  far  from  Miss  Todd's  home  and  al- 
most opposite  the  old  Second  Presbyterian  church,  where 
the  legislative  sessions  were  held,  the  state  house  not  being 
complete,  the  Edwards'  house  seemed  to  be  the  place  of 
rendezvous  for  all  the  young  girls  who  often  tried  to  tease 
Mary  about  her  suitor.  She  bore  their  jokes  and  teasing 
good  naturedly,  but  would  give  them  no  satisfaction,  neither 
denying  nor  affirming  these  reports.  It  was  therefore  a 
great  surprise  when  the  news  of  their  intended  marriage 
came  out. 

Ninian  Edwards  went  to  his  brother's  one  morning  and 
without  any  preliminaries  said  to  Mrs.  Edwards :  "My  wife 
wants  you  to  come  to  our  house  this  evening."  Mrs.  Ben 
Edwards  asked  what  was  going  on.  He  replied :  "We  are 
to  have  a  wedding;  I  met  Mr.  Lincoln  a  while  ago  and 
he  told  me  that  he  and  Mary  were  going  to  get  married 
this  evening  at  the  parsonage.  I  told  him  that  this  must 
not  be,  as  Mary  was  my  ward,  and  if  she  was  to  be  married 
it  must  be  from  my  house."  He  went  on  to  say  that  he 
left  his  wife  greatly  disturbed  over  the  fact  that  she  did 
not  have  time  to  prepare  a  wedding  feast.  There  were 
no  confectioners  in  those  days  to  furnish  dainty  refresh 
ments  which  are  so  necessary  on  such  occasions.  No  caterers 
to  relieve  the  housekeeper  of  the  labor  of  preparing  the 
menu  for  the  hungry  guests.  Every  housekeeper  had  to  de- 
pend upon  the  skill  of  her  own  hands  and  her  own  good 
taste  in  preparing  the  edibles  for  such  an  occasion.  There 
was  only  one  bakery  in  Springfield  and  its  choicest  com- 
modities were  gingerbread  and  beer. 

Some  little  misunderstanding  had  occurred  which  had 
prevented  Mr.  Lincoln  from  visiting  at  the  house,  but  Mrs. 
Simon  Francis,  whose  husband  was  editor  of  the  Sanga- 
mon  Journal,  a  mutual  friend,  had  made  arrangements 


36  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

that  they  should  meet  there,  and  it  was  there  the  wedding 
was  planned.  To  her  sister,  Mrs.  Edwards,  she  had  not 
given  the  least  intimation  of  her  surprise. 

Human  nature  is  the  same  the  world  over.  This  little 
town  was  not  free  from  its  rivalings,  envyings  and  jeal- 
ousies.. Some  one  had  spoken  of  Mr.  Lincoln  as  a  plebeian. 
This  rankled  in  the  heart  of  Miss  Todd  sorely,  so  when 
about  noon  on  the  wedding  day  Mrs.  Edwards'  feelings 
were  sufficiently  calmed  to  talk  to  her  sister  of  the  affair, 
she  said :  "Mary,  you  have  not  given  me  much  time  to  pre- 
pare for  our  guests  this  evening."  Then  she  added,  'T 
guess  I  will  have  to  send  to  Old  Dickey's  for  some,  of  the 
gingerbread  and  beer"  Mary  replied,  "Well,  that  will  be 
good  enough  for  plebeians  I  suppose.'" 

Mrs.  Edwards  was  a  model  housekeeper,  and  her  en- 
tertainments were  elaborate  and  elegant.  She  was  equal 
to  the  emergency,  and  on  this  occasion  provided  an  elegant 
and  bountiful  supper.  The  wedding  was  what  might  be 
called  a  pretty  one,  simple,  yet  impressive.  The  details 
were  not  long  remembered  by  those  present,  but  if  the 
guests  could  only  have  had  in  their  imagination  the  thought 
of  what  was  in  store  in  the  future  of  Mr.  Lincoln  the  most 
trifling  event  of  that  occasion  would  have  been  impressed 
upon  their  memories  as  with  the  point  of  a  diamond. 

Miss  Todd's  ambition  was  colossal.  She  had  from  early 
girlhood  said  she  expected  to  marry  a  man  who  would  some 
day  be  president  of  the  United  States,  and  she  seemed 
to  have  a  prophetic  vision  that  this  ambition  would  be 
realized.  But  what  was  there  in  Mr.  Lincoln  to  encourage 
such  ambition  and  expectation  ?  Apparently  nothing.  And 
when  he  was  nominated  it  seemed  impossible  that  there  ever 
should  be,  as  there  were  so  many  others  that  could  be 
named  who  seemed  so  much  better  fitted  than  he.  But 
the  one  who  regardeth  not  the  outward  appearance,  but 
knoweth  what  is  in  the  mind  of  man,  saw  in  Lincoln  that 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  37 

which  so  qualified  him  to  be  leader  of  this  great  nation 
which  was  to  undergo  such  trying  and  fearful  changes, 
and  therefore  bestowed  upon  him  the  crown  of  glory.  His 
title  to  it  who  can  doubt?  His  reign  was  short,  but  the 
result  will  live  forever. 

A  few  evenings  after  the  wedding  Mrs.  Edwards  met 
Mrs.  Lincoln  at  the  residence  of  Dr.  Payne.  She  congra- 
tulated her,  and  said :  "Mary  you  were  wise  in  your  choice, 
but  I  used  to  think  Mr.  Douglas  would  be  your  choice." 
She  replied  most  emphatically :  "No,  I  liked  him  well 
enough  but  that  was  all."  The  next  time  Mrs.  Edwards 
met  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  after  the  assassination,  when  Mrs. 
Lincoln  sent  for  Mrs.  Edwards  to  meet  her  -at  the  Clifton 
house  in  Chicago.  She  told  her  that  for  weeks  and  months 
after  her  husband's  death  she  was  in  such  a  condition  that 
life  was  a  perfect  blank.  Time  seemed  blotted  out,  and  she 
said  that  she  saw  she  must  have  been  -living  in  a  state  of 
unconsciousness,  for  she  remembered  nothing,  and  the 
awakening  was  terrible.  She  said,  too,  that  her  fear  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  would  not  be  re-elected  gave  her  great  un- 
easiness. "I  could  have  gone  down  on  my  knees  and  asked 
for  votes  for  him,  and  again  and  again  he  said,  'Mary,  I 
am  afraid  you  will  be  punished  for  this  overwhelming- 
anxiety.  If  I  am  to  be  elected  it  will  be  all  right,  if  not 
you  must  bear  the  disappointment.'  '  If  she  could  then 
only  have  had  some  prophetic  vision  of  that  which  was  on 
the  other  side  of  the  impenetrable  fog  bank  of  that  which 
was  to  be,  how  would  she  have  received  it?  In  merciful 
kindness  it  was  hidden  from  her  eyes. 

Mr.  Lincoln  at  the  time  of  his  marriage  was  not  prob- 
ably worth  five  hundred  dollars,  in  fact  he  was  a  poor  man 
all  of  his  life.  He  never  charged  more  than  one-half  the 
fees  other  lawyers  charged.  His  title,  "Honest  Old  Abe," 
followed  him  through  life.  His  home  in  Springfield,  which 
we  visit  every  time  we  go  to  Springfield,  is  a  plain  building 
— about  an  average  farm  house. 


CHAPTER    III. 
FROM  FLAT  BOAT  TO  WHITE  HOUSE 

HE  first  thing  that  Lincoln  undertook  worth 
mentioning  and  that  started  him  on  the  way  to 
the  White  House  was  his  trip  down  the  Sanga- 
rnon  in  a  flat  boat  loaded  with  produce.  He 
was  twenty-one  years  old  at  the  time  and  dressed  in 
buckskin  trousers,  butternut  colored  jeans  coat  checked 
shirt  and  straw  hat.  If  the  casual  observer  had  been 
told  that  the  young  man  was  starting  for  the  White 
House  at  Washington  he  would  probably  have  said  that 
the  thing  was  impossible  but  nevertheless  such  were  the 
facts  in  the  case  for  inside  of  that  checked  shirt  and  jeans 
coat  was  an  honest,  generous  and  noble  heart  and  inside 
of  that  straw  hat  was  a  head  filled  with  good  sense  and  the 
good  Lord  had  blessed  him  with  an  indomitable  will,  a 
sound  body  and  a  good  pair  of  eyes.  As  soon  as  the  boat 
started  down  stream  he  spied  out  snags,  sand  bars,  over 
hanging  trees,  and  other  obstructions  to  navigation  and 
remembered  them  which  secured  for  him  the  position  of 
pilot  on  a  steamboat,  which  ran  up  the  Sangamon  river  the 
next  year.  Lincoln's  boat  floated  down  the  Sangamon,  Illi- 
nois and  Mississippi  rivers  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  sold 
the  boat  and  produce  for  a  good  price.  He  remained  in 
New  Orleans  long  enough  to  visit  the  slave  market  and 
to  see  husbands  and  wives,  parents  and  children  torn  from 
each  other  and  separated  perhaps  forever.  He  remembered 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  39 

these  things  and  turning  to  his  companions  said,  "If  ever 
I  get  a  chance  I  will  strike  that  thing  and  strike  it  hard/' 
meaning  the  institution  of  slavery.  The  time  did  come  to 
strike  and  the  slaves  were  set  free.  He  went  to  the  steam- 
boat landing  to  take  passage  for  St.  Louis  but  instead  of 
paying  $40  for  passage  and  spending  his  time  drinking, 
smoking  and  playing  cards,  as  the  other  young  men  did 
he  went  to  the  captain  and  asked  him  if  he  wanted  another 
hand  on  the  boat.  The  captain  told  him  to  come  around 
the  next  day  and  he  would  employ  him,  so  he  got  his  passage 
free  and  made  a  nice  sum  of  money  besides.  When  he 
reached  St.  Louis  he  found  that  the  Illinois  river  steamboat 
had  just  left  and  that  there  would  not  be  another  for  several 
days.  He  left  his  baggage  with  his  partner  and  went 
across  the  country  to  Coles  county  to  visit  his  parents  but 
did  not  stay  long  as  he  was  anxious  to  return  to  Salem  and 
turn  over  the  money  to  the  man  who  had  shipped  the  prod- 
uce. That  transaction  showed  the  people  that  he  was 
honest  and  capable  and  he  immediately  received  employment 
as  clerk  and  was  afterwards  appointed 'postmaster  and  sur- 
veyor. This  was  another  step  towards  the  White  House. 
The  next  spring  he  was  looking  over  the  papers  and  saw 
that  a  steamboat  was  coming  up  the  Sangamon  as  far  as 
Springfield.  Learning  what  time  the  boat  would  reach 
Beardstown  Mr.  Lincoln  set  out  on  foot  for  that  place  and 
when  the  steamer,  "The  Tailsman"  landed  and  threw  out 
her  plank  he  was  the  first  person  to  step  aboard.  He  of- 
fered his  services  to  pilot  the  boat  up  the  Sangamon  telling 
the  captain  that  he  had  navigated  that  stream  in  a  flat  boat 
and  that  he  knew  where  all  the  obstructions  were.  So  he 
was  secured  to  pilot  the  boat  to  Springfield  and  back  for  $50. 
The  running  of  a  steamboat  up  the  Sangamon  river  caused 
great  excitement  in  Springfield  and  the  country  around.  At 
that  time  no  railroads  had  been  built  and  the  merchants 
and  farmers  had  to  haul  their  goods  and  produce  to  St. 


40  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

Louis — a  distance  of  ninety-five  miles.  It  took  from  ten 
days  to  two  weeks  to  make  the  trip,  but  now  they  were 
to  have  a  market  at  their  door.  When  the  legislature  a  few 
years  before  had  passed  a  law  declaring  the  Sangamon  navi- 
gable little  was  thought  of  it.  Now  Lincoln  had  taken  a 
flat  boat  down  stream  and  brought  a  steamboat  up  which 
demonstrated  the  fact  to  a  certainty  that  the  Sangamon  was 
a  navigable  stream.  Great  crowds  of  people  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  came  to  see  the  steamboat  as  very  few  had 
evereseen  one.  The  steamer  laid  at  the  wharf  at  Springfield 
for  more  than  a  week  and  during  that  time  Lincoln  was 
the  hero  of  the  occasion.  He  got  acquainted  with  more 
people  during  that  week  than  he  could  have  in  three  months 
traveling  around  the  country.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that 
his  friends  brought  him  out  for  the  legislature. 

There  was  another  circumstance  connected  with  running 
the  steamboat  up  the  Sangamon  that  benefited  Mr.  Lincoln. 
It  induced  almost  every  man  who  had  land  on  the  river 
above  high  water  mark  to  lay  it  out  in  town  lots  and  Lin- 
coln got  some  fat  jobs  in  surveying.  Mr.  Lincoln  had 
become  very  popular  with  the  people  and  had  been  so  fair 
and  honorable  in  his  dealing  and  would  no  doubt  have 
been  elected  if  the  democrats  had  not  put  up  grand  old 
Peter  Cartright,  the  Methodist  circuit  rider  and  camp  meet- 
ing orator.  Cartright  had  the  advantage  because  he  had 
preached  in  every  church  and  schoolhouse  and  had  lived 
in  the  county  six  years  longer  than  Lincoln.  He  also  had 
the  advantage  as  he  was  forty-seven  years  old  and  Lincoln 
was  only  twenty-three.  Cartright  had  served  a  term  in  the 
legislature  and  was  one  of  the  best  members  in  that  body. 
Therefore  the  people  sent  him  back  with  a  small  majority 
over  Lincoln.  That  was  the  only  time  that  Lincoln  was 
ever  beaten  for  office  by  the  people,  and  the  only  time  that 
Cartright  was  beaten  was  when  he  ran  for  congress  against 
Lincoln  in  1846.  I  notice  in  Cartright' s  autobiography  he 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  41 

fails  to  mention  the  fact  that  he  ever  ran  for  congress.  The 
only  reason  I  can  account  for  it  is  that  Uncle  Peter  always 
came  out  ahead  in  all  his  anecdotes  and  incidents  and  he 
did  not  want  posterity  to  know  that  he  was  ever  beaten. 
It  was  unfortunate  for  the  people  that  both  of  these  noble 
men  could  not  have  been  elected.  Peter  Cartright  was  an 
Andrew  Jackson  democrat  and  Lincoln  was  a  Henry  Clay 
whig. 

Again  I  want  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  it  was  Lincoln's 
first  trip  to  New  Orleans  in  a  flat  boat  that  was  the  first 
round  on  the  ladder  that  led  to  the  president's  chair.  If  he 
had  not  gone  to  New  Orleans  he  would  not  have  seen 
husbands  and  wives  and  little  children  separated  at  the 
auction  block  and  it  is  not  likely  that  his  great  heart  would 
ever  have  been  fired  with  a  deathly  hatred  of  slavery.  Then  if 
he  had  never  gone  down  to  New  Orleans  with  a  flat  boat 
he  never  would  have  piloted  that  steamboat  up  the  Sanga- 
mon  to  Springfield.  It  was  this  incident  that  put  him  on 
the  track  for  the  legislature.  Logically  that  step  led  him  on 
to  congress,  then  to  fight  with  Douglas  for  a  seat  in  the 
senate,  and  then,  with  a  triumphal  march  to  the  presidential 
chair.  It  was  all  step  by  step  on  the  ladder  of  fame  from  the 
flat  boat  to  the  highest  office — the  gift  of  the  people — presi-' 
dent  of  the  United  States. 


THE  SHIRT  SLEEVE  IN  THE  CORN  FIFLD 

Harvey  L.  Ross  had  a  quarter  section  of  land  two  miles 
south  of  Macomb.  It  was  left  to  him  from  his  father's 
estate.  It  was  a  fine  quarter  but  there  was  some  defect  in 
the  title  which  could  only  be  remedied  by  the  evidence  of  a 
man  named  Hagerty,  who  lived  six  miles  west  of  Spring- 
field and  who  knew  the  facts,  which  he  wished  to  prove. 


42  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

He  noticed  by  the  papers  that  court  was  in  session  at  Spring- 
field and  as  court  only  convened  twice  a  year  he  immediately 
started  for  that  place,  which  was  sixty  miles  from  his  Home. 
He  found  his  witness  and  took  him  with  him.  On  ar- 
riving at  Springfield  he  went  directly  to  Mr.  Lincoln's  office 
which  was  over  a  store  west  of  the  square.  The  office  was 
fourteen  feet  square  and  contained  two  tables,  two  book 
cases  and  a  half  a  dozen  chairs.  The  floor  was  perfectly 
bare.  He  told  Lincoln  his  story  and  showed  him  his  title 
papers.  Lincoln  looked  them  over  and  then  remarked :  "I 
am  sorry  to  have  to  tell  you  that  you  are  a  little  too  late 
for  the  court  has  adjourned  and  will  not  meet  again  for 
six  months  and  Judge  Thomas  has  gone  home.  He  lives  on 
a  farm  a  mile  east  of  town,  but  we  will  go  and  see  him  and 
see  if  he  can  do  anything  for  you."  Ross  said  he  would 
get  a  carriage  and  they  would  drive  out  but  Lincoln  said : 
"No  I  can  walk  if  you  can."  Ross  said  he  would  as  soon 
walk  as  ride.  Before  they  started  Lincoln  pulled  off  his 
coat,  laid  it  on  a  chair  and  took  from  his  pocket  a  large 
bandana  handkerchief  to  wipe  the  perspiration  from  his  face 
as  it  was  a  warm  day  in  August.  He  struck  off  across 
the  square  in  his  shirt  sleeves  with  the  red  handkerchief  in 
one  hand  and  the  bundle  of  papers  in  the  other,  while  Ross 
and  his  witness  followed.  They  soon  came  to  Judge 
Thomas'  residence,  which  was  a  one  story  frame  house. 
Mr.  Lincoln  knocked  at  the  door  (at  that  time  there  were 
no  door  bells)  and  the  judge's  wife  came  to  the  door.  Mr. 
Lincoln  asked  if  the  judge  was  at  home  and  she  replied  that 
he  had  gone  to  the  north  part  of  the  farm,  where  they  had 
a  tenant  house,  to  help  his  men  put  up  a  corn  crib.  She  said 
if  they  went  the  main  road  it  would  be  a  half  a  mile,  but 
if  they  cut  across  the  corn  field  it  would  only  be  a  quarter 
of  a  mile.  Mr.  Lincoln  said  if  she  would  show  them  the 
path  they  would  take  the  short  cut  .so  she  came  out  of  the 
house  and  showed  them  where  the  path  struck  off  across 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  43 

the  corn  field  from  their  barn.  They  followed  the  path, 
Mr.  Lincoln  in  the  lead  and  Ross  and  Hagerty  following 
in  Indian  file  and  soon  came  to  where  the  judge  and  his 
men  were  raising  a  log  house  about  twelve  by  twenty  feet. 
It  was  to  serve  as  a  corn  crib  and  a  hog  house.  Mr.  Lincoln 
told  the  judge  how  Ross  had  come  from  Fulton  county 
and  had  brought  his  witness  to  town  just  after  court  had 
adjourned  and  so  he  thought  he  would  come  out  and  see  if 
anything  could  be  done. 

The  judge  looked  over  the  title  papers  and  said  he 
thought  it  could  be  fixed  up.  So  he  swore  in  the  witness 
with  whom  he  was  acquainted  and  procuring  pen  and  ink 
from  his  tenant  fixed  up  the  papers.  The  judge  and  the 
rest  of  them  were  in  their  shirt  sleeves  and  Lincoln  re- 
marked that  it  was  a  kind  of  a  shirt  sleeve  court.  "Yes," 
replied  the  judge,  "a  shirt  sleeve  court  in  a  corn  field."  After 
the  business  had  been  transacted,  Mr.  Lincoln  asked  Judge 
Thomas  if  he  did  not  want  some  help  in  rolling  up  the  logs 
and  the  judge  replied  that  there  were  two  logs  that  were 
pretty  heavy  and  he  would  like  to  have  a  little  help  in  rolling 
them  up.  Before  they  left  they  helped  roll  them  up. 
Lincoln  steered  one  end  and  the  judge  the  other. 
Ross  offered  to  pay  the  judge  for  taking  the  deposition  of 
his  witness,  but  he  guessed  he  had  paid  enough  with  the 
raising  of  the  logs  to  pay  for  that  and  would  take  nothing 
for  his  work.  When  they  got  back  to  Lincoln's  office  they 
had  walked  about  three  miles.  Lincoln  put  the  papers  in 
a  large  envelope  with  the  names  of  Stewart  &  Lincoln 
printed  at  the  top.  "Now,  said  he,  when  you  get  home  put 
these  papers  on  record  and  you  will  have  a  good  title  to 
your  land."  Ross  then  took  out  his  pocket  book  to  pay 
him  and  supposed  he  would  charge  about  ten  dollars.  He 
knew  that  Lincoln  was  moderate  in  his  charges.  "Now, 
Mr.  Lincoln,  said  he,  how  much  shall  I  pay  you  for  this 
long  walk  through  the  hot  sun  and  dust?"  Lincoln  paused 


44  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

for  a  moment,  took  the  large  handkerchief  and  wiped  the 
perspiration  from  off  his  face  and  said,  "I  guess  I  will  not 
charge  anything  for  that.  I  will  let  it  go  on  the  old  score." 
When  he  said  that  Ross  could  not  keep  the  tears  back  for 
he  could  recall  many  instances  when  Lincoln  had  been  so 
good  and  kind  to  him  when  he  was  carrying  the  mail  through 
Salem  years  before.  But  when  he  said  he  would  charge 
nothing  for  his  work  it  was  more  kindness  than  Ross  could 
stand.  Lincoln  probably  meant  by  "old  score"  that  he 
had  helped  him  in  his  store  and  in  the  postoffice,  and  that 
his  father  had  helped  him  to  get  the  postoffice.  Now  there 
is  something  remarkable  in  the  history  of  these  two  men 
who  worked  in  rolling  up  those  two  logs.  It  showed  that 
the  prominent  men  of  that  time  were  not  too  proud  to 
engage  in  common  labor.  Judge  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  who  was 
at  one  end  of  the  log,  had  served  as  a  member  of  the  terri- 
torial legislature,  had  twice  been  elected  to  the  United 
States  senate,  once  as  a  supreme  judge  was  a  member  of 
the  constitutional  convention,  which  formed  the  first  con- 
stitution of  Illinois  and  he  had  done  more  and  exerted  more 
influence  toward  making  the  state  of  Illinois  a  slave  state 
than  any  other  man.  The  man  at  the  other  end  of  the  log 
was  Abraham  Lincoln,  the  great  emancipator,  who  after- 
wards served  in  the  legislature,  in  congress  and  as  president 
of  the  United  States.  It  was  his  pen,  which  set  four  million 
of  slaves  free  He  did  more  to  banish  slavery  from  the 
United  States  than  any  other  man.  The  name  of  Judge 
Thomas  is  lost  in  oblivion  while  the  name  of  Lincoln  stands 
on  the  top  round  of  the  world's  greatest  benefactors. 

It  is  related  that  while  in  the  White  House  Lincoln 
was  called  on  by  a  lot  of  English  snobs,  for  whom  he  had 
no  great  love  or  reverence.  They  sat  back  on  their  dignity. 
Abe  sauntered  around  the  room  and  talked  to  them  oc- 
casionally and  finally  he  picked  up  an  old  blacking  brush, 
put  his  foot  on  a  chair  and  began  to  brush  off  his  old  shoes 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  45 

in  a  careless  manner.  The  English  dudes  were  astounded 
and  one  of  them  managed  to  say,  "Why,  Mr.  Lincoln,  no 
man  who  belongs  to  the  aristocracy  in  England  blacks  his 
own  shoes."  Lincoln  quickly  replied,  "Whose  shoes  does 
he  black  then  ?"  The  dudes  saw  the  point  and  soon  excused 
themselves  and  departed.  If  there  was  one  thing  that  Lincoln 
despised  it  was  snobbishness.  He  never  got  so  high  on 
the  pinnacle  of  fame  that  he  forgot  the  common  class  of 
people.  He  never  forgot  the  rock  from  which  he  was 
hewn. 

The  county  of  Menard  was  set  off  from  Sangamon  in 
1840  and  the  county  seat  was  located  at  Petersburg.  It 
was  not  until  1844  that  the  new  court  house  was  finished. 
In  the  meantime  court  was  held  in  an  old  store  house  in 
Main  street  about  three  blocks  south  of  the  public  square. 
The  court  house  wras  in  the  middle  of  the  block.  The  room 
was  24x60.  A  railing  on  the  west  end  made  a  place  for 
the  lawyers  and  the  judge,  Judge  Treat  presided  for  several 
years.  The  best  lawyers  from  Springfield  attended  and 
they  were  intellectual  giants.  Though  but  a  boy  of  ten  or 
twelve  years,  I  well  remember  the  legal  battles  which  were 
fought  there.  I  call  to  mind  a  suit  that  was  of  more  than 
unusual  interest  and  which  attracted  a  large  crowd.  I 
think  I  heard  the  whole  trial,  wrhich  lasted  about  two  days 
The  case  was  Dr.  John  Allen  against  Samuel  Hill,  the 
merchant.  Hill  and  Allen  had  both  moved  down  from 
Salem  and  were  prominent  men.  Their  lives  were  as  dif- 
ferent as  black  and  white.  Allen  had  come  from  the  east  and 
was  a  strict  member  of  the  old  Presbyterian  church.  He 
li ad  hardly  landed  in  the  country  when  he  began  to  canvass 
for  the  souls  as  well  as 'the  bodies  of  men.  He  opened  up 
a  Sunday  school  in  his  house.  He  also  held  a  prayer  meet- 
ing and  formed  a  temperance  society.  This  caused  a  great 
deal  of  commotion  in  that  section.  Old  church  members 
were  Allen's  bitter  opponents,  and  yet  he  lived  to  see  a 


46  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

complete  revolution  in  the  sentiments  of  the  people.  Allen 
spent  all  of  his  spare  time  doing  missionary  work  and  died 
about  twenty-five  years  ago,  much  respected  and  beloved  by 
the  entire  community.  Hill  did  not  take  much  stock  in 
Allen's  sentiments.  He  had  sold  liquor  in  his  store  and  he 
was  not  a  "meetin'  man."  He  had  the  rowdy  part  of  the 
community  for  his  comrades.  Though  not  much  of  a  man 
physically  when  he  had  a  grudge  against  a  man  he  could 
hire  some  old  bluffer  to  whip  him.  At  one  time  he  hired 
John  Fergeson  to  whip  Jack  Armstrong  and  gave  him  a 
set  of  blue-edged  plates  for  doing  it. 


LINCOLN  ATTENDS  A  CIRCUS 

In  the  summer  of  1833  the  first  circus  and  menagerie 
ever  known  in  the  west  was  billed  to  be  in  Springfield  while 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  postmaster  at  Salem.  The  putting  up 
of  the  bills  created  intense  excitement  in  all  the  Springfield 
country.  Thousands  of  the  pioneers  had  never  seen  such 
a  show.  Ross  who  carried  the  mail  at  that  time,  though 
living  in  Havana,  was  determined  if  possible  to  be  in  Spring- 
field to  see  the  street  parade,  which  was  to  take  place  at  12 
o'clock  and  also  to  see  the  show.  So  he  started  the  nigh'; 
before  at  12  o'clock  with  the  mail  and  got  to  Salem  at  sun- 
rise the  next  morning.  He  went  to  the  tavern  to  get  his 
breakfast  and  have  his  horse  fed  and  was  told  that  Lincoln 
had  gone  to  the  country  the  day  before  to  do  some  survey- 
ing and  had  not  returned,  and  that  Bill  Berry,  his  partner, 
had  been  to  a  dance  the  night  before.  The  dance  did  not 
break  up  till  daylight  and  Bill  was  well  nigh  filled  up  with 
eggnog  and  Ross  feared  that  he  would  have  some  trouble 
waking  him  up  to  change  the  mail.  After  breakfast  he 
found  Bill  in  a  profound  slumber  in  a  little  room  adjoining 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 


47 


the  postoffice.  For  a  half  hour  Ross  pounded  on  the  door 
and  yelled  and  shouted,  but  all  in  vain.  It  would  have  taken 
the  angel  Gabriel's  trumpet  to  wake  him  up.  So  Ross  threw 
his  mail  bags  across  his  horse  and  went  on  his  journey.  He 
left  the  mail  that  belonged  to  Salem  at  Sangamon  and 


LINCOLN   MONUMENT  AT  SPRINGFIELD,  ILL. 

asked  the  postmaster  to  keep  it  until  the  next  day,  when  he 
would  get  it  on  his  return.  He  hurried  on  and  got  to  Spring- 
field in  time  to  see  the  parade. 

There  was  a  mighty  host  of  people  in  town  who  had 
come  from  far  and  near.     Some  had  come  twenty  miles, 


48  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

bringing  their  families  with  them.  It  was  wonderful  what  an 
attraction  a  circus  was.  I  have  seen  the  Bottomites,  as  they 
were  called  at  Havana,  commence  gathering  money  a  month 
ahead  of  a  show.  They  would  bring  blackberries,  or  a  load 
of  clapboards,  or  rails,  or  anything  that  would  sell  for  money. 
Some  would  do  without  coffee,  whisky  or  tobacco  until  they 
had  enough  money  saved  to  go  to  the  show,  or  just  to  take 
their  children  to  see  the  animals.  Another  class  and  a 
meaner  one  I  think  is  the  man  who  goes  to  town  and  sees 
the  street  parade  and  then  is  too  little  to  pay  his  money  to 
go  into  the  tent  and  patronize  the  show. 

Probably  there  never  was  such  excitement  in  Springfield 
as  there  was  that  day  except  on  two  other  occasions.  The 
first  was  when  Lincoln  piloted  the  Tailsman  up  the  San- 
gamon  and  landed  her  near  Springfield.  The  people  then 
believed  that  the  Sangamon  would  always  be  navigable  for 
steamboats  and  they  were  wild  with  excitement  with  the 
outlook  for  Springfield's  prosperity.  The  other  great  ex- 
citement was  when  the  state  capitol  was  moved  from  Van- 
dalia  to  Springfield.  There  were  two  things  connected  with 
the  show  which  astonished  the  people  wonderfully.  One 
was  a  monster  anaconda  snake  eighteen  feet  long,  and  the 
other  a  young  lady  who  stood  on  a  horse  and  rode  at  full 
speed  around  the  ring.  If  there  was  anything  that  would 
bring  fear  and  terror  to  the  early  settlers  it  was  the  sight  of 
a  snake.  They  had  seen  so  many  cases  where  people  had 
been  bitten  by  snakes  and  the  terrible  sufferings  they  had  en- 
dured that  they  had  good  reasons  to  dread  snakes.  The 
snake  in  the  garden  of  Eden  has  done  so  much  damage  to 
the  human  family  that  we  may  well  beware  of  snakes.  So 
when  the  showman  took  the  monster  from  the  iron  cage  and 
it  crawled  upon  his  shoulders  with  its  hideous  head  extended 
far  above  him  and  with  its  forked  tongue  darting  out  six 
inches  and  its  baneful  eyes  that  looked  like  balls  of  fire,  the 
audience  was  transfixed  with  terror.  But  when  the  show- 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  49 

man  commenced  to  carry  the  hideous  thing  around  the  ring 
close  to  the  people,  tlie  women  would  scream,  the  children 
cry  and  the  men  would  yell  for  the  snake  to  be  put  in  the 
cage.  So  the  showman  had  to  stop  the  horrid  performance 
and  put  the  anaconda  back  in  the  cage  or  there  would  have 
been  a  general  stampede  from  the  big  tent.  However,  the 
people  approached  cautiously  afterwards  to  gaze  upon  the 
big  snake.  The  people  were  entranced  with  the  spangled 
young  woman  who  rode  at  full  speed  around  the  ring  stand- 
ing upon  the  horse.  It  was  a  common  sight  in  those  days  to 
see  a  woman  driving  horses  while  they  held  the  plow,  or  to 
see  them  on  horseback  going  to  the  mill.  The  pioneer  girls 
and  women  were  expert  horsewomen  in  a  side  saddle  or  even 
bare  back.  But  when  it  came  to  a  pretty  girl  standing  on  a 
horse  going  at  full  speed  it  took  the  people's  breath  away 
and  made  their  hearts  stand  still.  No  mortal  of  them  could 
ever  have  believed  that  a  girl  could  do  a  thing  like  that  until 
they  had  seen  it. 

No  rain  had  fallen  in  Springfield  for  several  weeks  and 
the  black  dust  lay  deep  in  all  the  roads  and  streets.  The 
big  crowd  kept  it  well  stirred  up  and  the  women  and  children 
in  their  holiday  clothes  were  a  sight  to  behold.: 

Mr.  Lincoln  got  back  to  Salem  a  few  hours  after  Ross 
had  passed  through  and  was  a  little  displeased  because  he  had 
not  left  the  mail,  not  knowing  the  cause.  With  every  man 
and  woman,  who  paid  his  and  her  way,  Mr.  Lincoln  went  to 
the  show.  After  the  performance  \vas  over  Ross  met  Lin- 
coln on  the  street  and  as  they  met  Ross  noticed  a  scowl  on 
Lincoln's  face.  Lincoln  said  to  him  "How  did  it  happen 
that  you  did  not  have  the  mail  changed  when  you  came 
through  Salem?  You  might  get  me  in  trouble  about  this. 
Suppose  the  postmaster  at  Springfield  should  report  the  fact 
that  the  mail  was  not  changed  at  Salem  to  the  department 
at  Washington,  but  was  brought  on  to  Springfield.  What 
would  happen  to  me?"  But  when  Ross  told  him  the  whole 


50  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

story,  how  he  had  gotten  up  at  12  o'clock  at  night  so  he 
could  get  to  Springfield  to  see  the  show  come  to  town,  and 
that  he  had  never  seen  a  show  and  how  anxious  he  was  to  see 
one  and  how  hard  he  had  tried  to  get  Billy  Berry  up  to  open 
the  mail  and  that  he  had  not  brought  the  mail  to  Springfield 
but  had  left  it  at  Sangamon  and  would  carry  it  back  to 
Salem  in  the  morning,  Mr.  Lincoln  in  a  kind  voice  said. 
"Oh,  well  that  is  all  right.  Bill  Berry  ought  to  have  gotten 
up  and  changed  the  mail  for  you."  Then  he  said,  "I  am 
going  home  this  evening  and  I  will  stop  and  get  the  mail  and 
carry  it  home  with  me."  Ross  found  next  day  that  he  had 
done  so. 

When  Ross  met  Lincoln  he  noticed  that  he  had  a  new  suit 
of  clothes  on  and  a  new  hat.  While  talking  to  him  Ross 
had  a  good  opportunity  to  scrutinize  his  whole  wardrobe 
and  he  could  remember  everything  he  had  on.  The  coat 
and  pants  were  of  brown  linen,  the  vest  white  with  dots  of 
flowers  in  it.  The  shirt  was  open  front  and  buttoned  up 
with  small  ivory  buttons.  The  collar  was  wide  and  folded 
over  the  collar  of  his  coat.  He  had  for  a  necktie  a  black 
silk  handkerchief  with  a  narrow  fringe  to  it  and  it  was  tied 
in  a  double  bow.  He  wore  a  pair  of  low  shoes  tied  in  a 
double  bow  over  the  instep.  He  had  a  buckeye  hat  on.  It 
was  made  of  buckeye  splints  and  was  much  like  the  fashion- 
able straw  hats.  The  buckeye  hats  were  much  worn  in  those 
days  and  cost  twice  as  much  as  a  straw  hat  or  from  $1.25  to 
$1.50  apiece.  So  the  reader  may  see  how  Mr.  Lincoln 
looked  when  dressed  for  a  circus. 

When  Ross  gof  back  to  Salem  next  morning  he  found 
that  Lincoln  had  given  the  people  their  mail  and  that  Bill 
Berry  was  very  sorry  for  his  misconduct,  and  that  Lincoln 
had  washed  off  the  Springfield  dust  and  was  as  amiable  and 
happy  as  ever. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  51 


PRESIDENT  LINCOLN'S  FIRST  DOLLAR 

During  an  evening-  in  the  executive  chamber  a  number 
of  gentlemen  were  present  and  among  them  was  Mr.  Sew- 
ard.  A  point  in  the  conversation  suggested  the  thought  and 
Lincoln  said  :  "Seward,  did  you  ever  hear  how  I  earned  my 
first  dollar."  "No,"  said  Seward.  "Well,"  replied  Mr. 
Lincoln,  "I  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age ;  I  belonged,  you 
know,  to  what  they  called  the  scrubs.  People  who  did  not 
own  land  or  slaves  were  nobody  then.  However,  we  suc- 
ceeded in  raising  sufficient  produce,  as  I  thought,  to  justify 
me  in  taking  it  down  the  river  to  sell.  After  much  persua- 
sion I  got  my  mother's  consent  to  go.  I  constructed  a  flat 
boat  large  enough  to  carry  the  barrel,  other  things,  which 
we  had  gathered,  myself  and  a  little  bundle  down  to  New 
Orleans.  A  steamboat  was  coming  down  the  river — we 
have  no  wharf,  you  know — and  the  custom  was  if  passen- 
gers were  at  the  landings  for  them  to  get  out  in  a  boat,  the 
steamer  stopping  and  taking  them  on  board.  I  was  con- 
templating my  new  flat  boat  and  wondering  whether  I  could 
improve  it  in  any  particular  way,  when  two  men  came  down 
to  the  shore  in  carriages  with  trunks  and  looking  at  the  dif- 
ferent boats  they  singled  out  mine  and  asked :  'Who  owns 
this?'  I  answered  somewhat  modestly,  'I  do.'  'Will  you,' 
said  one  of  them,  'take  us  and  our  trunks  out  to  the  steamer?' 
'Certainly,'  said  I.  I  was  very  glad  to  have  the  opportunity 
to  earn  something.  I  supposed  they  would  give  me  a  quar- 
ter. The  trunks  were  put  on  the  boat  and  the  passengers 
seated  themselves  on  the  trunks  and  I  sculled  them  out  to  the 
steamboat.  They  got  on  board  and  I  lifted  in  their  trunks 
and  put  them  on  the  deck.  The  steamer  was  about  to  put  on 
steam  again  and  I  called  out  that  they  had  forgotten  to  pay 
me.  Each  of  them  took  from  his  pocket  a  silver  half  dollar 


4O  * 


52  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

and  threw  them  on  the  floor  of  my  boat.  I  could  scarcely 
believe  my  eyes  as  I  picked  up  the  money.  Gentlemen,  you 
may  think  it  a  very  little  thing,  and  in  these  days  it  seems 
like  a  trifle,  but  it  was  the  most  important  thing  in  my  life. 
I  could  scarcely  credit  that  I,  a  poor  boy,  had  earned  a  dollar 
in  less  than  a  day  and  that  I  had  earned  it  by  honest  work. 
The  world  seemed  wider  and  fairer  before  me.  I  was  more 
hopeful  and  confident  than  before." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LINCOLN  AT  SALEM 

T  THE  time  that  Mr.  Lincoln  lived  Salem  was  a 
great  place  of  resort  for  the  young  men.  Boys 
from  Clary's  Grove,  Wolf  county,  Sangamon 
and  Sand  Ridge  would  gather  together  at 
Salem  on  Saturday  and  there  indulge  in  horse  racing,  foot 
racing,  wrestling,  jumping,  ball  playing  and  shoot- 
ing at  a  mark  for  beef.  A  beef  always  had  five 
quarters  when  shot  for.  The  hide  and  tallow  made  the  fifth 
quarter.  The  boys  also  indulged  in  gander  pulling,  which 
was,  I  think  a  western  game.  I  learned  from  some  college 
professors  at  the  Old  Salem  Chautauqua  that  southern  peo- 
ple never  heard  of  gander  pulling.  I  was  taking  a  lot  of 
southern  men  over  the  Salem  hill  and  I  showed  them  a  spot 
where  gander  pulling  was  indulged  in,  and  I  had  to  explain 
to  them  the  manner  in  which  it  was  played.  An  old  tough 
gander  was  tied  to  a  swinging  limb  of  a  tree  with  his  head 
down  about  eight  feet  above  the  ground.  His  neck  was 
well  greased  and  a  man  by  paying  ten  cents  would  have  a 
chance  to  get  the  gander  by  riding  at  full  speed  under  the 
bird,  and  if  he  could  grab  him  by  the  neck  and  pull  his  head 
off  it  was  his.  Under  our  code  of  laws  a  man  would  be 
prosecuted  for  cruelty  to  animals  if  he  should  undertake 
such  a  business.  So  we  have  progressed  in  that  respect  and 
have  retrograded  in  another.  We  condemn  Mexico  and 
Spain  for  their  bull  fights,  and  as  Christians  have  instead 


54  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

our  prize  fights,  where  two  old  duffers  stand  up  before  ten 
thousand  people  and  knock  e'ach  'Other.  On  all  days  for 
sports  Lincoln  would  generally  take  a  lay  off  and  join  the 
others.  He  was  stout  and  active  and  a  match  for  any  of 
them.  I  do  not  think  that  he  bet  on  any  of  the  games  or 
races,  but  the  boys  had  so  much  confidence  in  his  honesty 
and  knew  that  he  would  see  fair  play  that  he  was  often 
chosen  as  judge  to  determine  the  winners.  His  decisions 
were  always  regarded  as  just. 

Lincoln  generally  made  the  subject  of  internal  improve- 
ments the  theme  of  his  speeches,  and  he  would  speak  of  the 
great  sources  of  the  State  of  Illinois  and  the  wonderful  op- 
portunities that  lay  before  the  young  men  if  they  would  only 
improve  them.  In  these  speeches  he  seldom  spoke  of  pol- 
itics, so  all  were  pleased  and  none  offended  and  the  meetings 
generally  closed  with  three  cheers  for  Lincoln  and  a  general 
hand-shaking.  The  people  would  go  home  happy  and  a 
few  of  them  would  not  come  to  town  till  the  next  Saturday. 
Mr.  Lincoln  was  not  only  chosen  as  judge  of  horse  races, 
but  was  often  arbitrator  in  disputes  between  his  neighbors 
and  saved  them  many  expensive  law  suits.  A  justice  of  the 
peace  came  into  his  office  one  day  and  complained  that  he 
had  been  cruelly  wronged  by  him.  He  claimed  that  Lincoln 
deprived  him  of  his  fees  and  interfered  with  his  business. 
Mr.  Lincoln  replied  that  he  could  noF  bear  to  see  his  neigh- 
bors spend  their  money  in  litigation  and  become  enemies  for 
life  wrhen  he  could  prevent  it.  When  these  cases  were 
brought  before  him  he  would  generally  give  satisfaction  to 
both  parties,  and  when  one  was  in  the  wrong  he  would  point 
out  his  error  and  convince  him  before  he  left. 

Bill  Herendon  was  a  son  of  Archie  Herendon,  who  built 
and  kept  one  of  the  first  hotels  in  Springfield.  It  was  called 
the  Herendon  House.  He  was  a  prominent  politician,  had 
been  elected  state  Senator  and  held  several  other  offices.  He 
was  a  Whig  and  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Lincoln's.  Bill 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  55 

Herendon,  whose  book  we  criticised  severely  in  a  former  ar- 
ticle, was  possessed  of  one  trait  of  character  which  many 
people  objected  to.     It  was  the  delight  he  took  in  playing 
jokes  on  people.     He  did  not  seem  to  care  how  much  misery 
he  caused  as  long  as  he  could  make  a  little  fun  out  it.     In 
the  fall  of  1836  Harvey  L.  Ross  was  sent  to  Jacksonville 
college  and  he  had  a  room-mate  by  the  name  of  Potter,  of 
Chicago.     He  had  been  there  only  a  few  weeks  when  Bill 
Herendon  put  in  his  appearance.     He  said  he  had  come  to 
attend  college  and  wanted  to  know  if  Ross  would  take  him 
for  a  room-mate  as  he  was  the  only  student  with  whom  he 
was  acquainted.     He  was  told  that  if  Potter  would  give  his 
consent  no  objection  would  be  offered.   Potter  said  he  would 
be  willing  if  they  would  furnish  him  bedding.     As  Ross 
had  a  large  room  and  a  large  bed  they  bunked  together. 
Ross  asked  Herendon  where  his  trunk  was  and  he  replied 
that  had  come  from  home  in  a  hurry  and  did  not  bring  it 
but  that  his  folks  would  send  it  by  the  next  stage.     Then  he 
commenced  to  laugh  and  Ross  suspected  that  he  was  up  to 
some  of  his  old  tricks.     He  said  to  him:     "Now  Bill,  you 
have  been  up  to  some  devilment  and  you  must  tell  us  what 
it  is  and  then  get  away."     Herendon  said  that  there  had 
been  an  election  for  county  officers  up  in  Sangamon  county 
and  that  one  of  the  political  parites  had  paid  him  a  dollar 
and  half  to  take  some  tickets  to  a  precinct  a  few  miles  from 
Springfield  to  distribute  them  to  the  voters.     After  he  had 
gone  about  a  mile  he  was  overtaken  by  a  young  man  who 
had  a  package  of  tickets  for  the  opposing  party.     The  young 
man  offered  Herendon  a  dollar  and  a  half  if  he  would  take 
his  tickets  and  distribute  them  among  the  voters.     Heren- 
don accepted  the  offer  and  the  first  creek  he  came  to  he 
soused  the  tickets  in,  leaving  the  men  who  voted  that  ticket 
the  alternative  of  voting  the  other  ticket  or  not  voting  at  all. 
This  act  raised  such  a  storm  of  wrath  among  the  first  party 
who  employed  him  that  he  decided  to  go  away  until  the 


56  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

storm  passed  over.  He  told  the  story  with  such  glee  and 
merriment  that  one  would  think  he  had  done  something  re- 
markably cute.  Herendon  had  not  been  long  at  college  un- 
til it  was  evident  that  he  was  brim  full  of  devilment  and  there 
was  scarcely  a  week  during  the  time  he  stayed  that  he  was 
not  up  before  the  faculty  for  some  misdemeanor. 

There  was  nothing  bad  about  him  that  made  him  act  a? 
he  did,  but  he  wanted  to  gain  notoriety  and  astonish  people 
After  he  left  college  he  clerked  in  a  store  in  Springfield  for 
a  long  time  and  then  commenced  the  study  of  law.  He 
applied  himself  to  his  studies  and  was  25  years  old  when  he 
went  in  with  Lincoln.  Lincoln  was  34  years  old.  At  that 
time  it  was  thought  a  little  strange  that  Lincoln  should  take 
into  partnership  such  a  young  and  inexperienced  lawyer  as 
Bill  Herendon,  but  he  had  his  reasons.  Bill's  father  had 
been  a  friend  of  Lincoln's  for  a  great  many  years  and  he 
was  a  very  influential  man  in  Sangamon  county.  He  had 
always  helped  Lincoln  in  every  way  and  it  was  in  payment 
for  this  kindness  that  Lincoln  took  his  son  into  his  office. 
It  was  a  parallel  case  with  that  of  Bill  Berry  whom  Lincoln 
took  into  partnership  in  his  Salem  store.  Both  fathers 
wanted  their  sons  in  partnership  with  an  honest  man.  There 
was  another  reason.  Both  of  Lincoln's  other  partners,  John 
L.  Stewart  and  Stephen  Logan,  like  himself,  were  aspirants 
for  political  honors,  and  he  had  learned  that  a  law  office 
could  not  be  run  when  all  of  the  members  wanted  to  be  Con- 
gressmen. As  Bill  was  young  and  showed  no  disposition 
to  run  into  politics,  he  thought  it  was  a  safe  thing  to  do  to 
take  him  into  partnership.  Bill  did  apply  himself  to  the 
business  and  gave  perfect  satisfaction  to  the  firm  and  to  the 
people  for  whom  he  transacted  business  up  to  the  time  of 
Lincoln's  death.  But  for  some  unaccountable  reason  after 
Lincoln's  death  he  commenced  to  drink — a  thing  he  nev^r 
did  before  in  his  life. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  57 

By  the  act  of  empancipation  Mr.  Lincoln  built  for  him- 
•self  forever  the  first  place  in  the  affections  of  the  African 
race  in  this  country.  The  love  and  reverence  manifested  for 
him  by  many  of  these  poor  ignorant  people  has  on  some  oc- 
casions almost  reached  adoration.  One  day  Col.  McKay, 
of  New  York,  who  was  one  of  the  committee  selected  to  in- 
vestigate the  condition  of  the  freedman,  upon  his  return 
from  Hilton  Head  and  Beauport  called  on  the  president  and 
related  the  following  incident :  He  had  been  speaking  of 
the  ideas  of  power  entertained  by  these  poor  black  people. 
They  had  an  idea  of  God  as  the  Almighty.  They  had  no 
knowledge  of  any  other  power.  Their  masters  had  fled  upon 
the  approach  of  our  army  and  this  gave  the  slaves  the  con- 
ception of  a  power  greater  than  their  masters.  This  power 
they  called  "Massa  Linkum."  Col.  McKay  said  that  their 
place  of  worship  was  a  large  building,  which  the  called  "The 
Praise  House,"  and  their  leader  was  a  venerable  black  man 
loiown  as  the  "Praise  Man."  On  a  certain  day  when  there 
was  a  large  gathering  of  people,  considerable  confusion  was 
created  by  different  persons  attempting  to  tell  who  and  what 
''Massa  Linkum"  was.  In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  the 
white  headed  leader  commanded  silence.  "Bredren,"  said 
"he,  "you  don't  know  what  yotise  talkin  bout.  Now  jus 
lis'en  to  me.  Massa  Linkum  he  be  ebry  whare.  He 
knows  ebry  ting."  Then  solemnly  looking  up  he  added, 
"He  walk  de  earf  like  de  Lord."  Mr.  Lincoln  was  much 
affected  by  this  account.  He  did  not  smile  as  another 
might,  but  got  up  from  his  chair  and  walked  in  silence  two 
•or  three  times  across  the  floor,  and  as  he  resumed  his  seat 
Tie  said :  "It  is  a  momentous  thing  to  be  an  instrument  in 
the  hands  of  Providence  in  liberating  a  race." 


58  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 


LINCOLN  AS  A  LAWYER,  ON  HORSEBACK 

In  early  days  before  the  railroad  dispensation,  it  was 
customary  for  the  noted  lawyers,  most  of  whom  lived  in 
Springfield,  to  attend  the  courts  within  a  radius  of  one  hun- 
dred miles  of  the  capitol  city.  They  would  go  on  horseback 
and  start  out  in  pairs,  or  often  singly  for  Jacksonville,  De- 
catur,  Clinton,  Blooniington,  Tremont,  Peoria,  Galesburg,. 
Lewistown,  Rushville,  Beardstown  and  by  that  time  they 
had  completed  the  circle.  At  nights  they  would  put  up  at 
hotels  and  compare  notes,  tell  anecdotes  and  the  people  of 
the  town  would  gather  in  and  enjoy  the  conversation.  It 
is  not  saying  too  much  that  Lincoln  was  the  center  of  attrac- 
tion. His  wonderful  resource  and  wit  would  always  place 
him  at  the  head  of  entertainers.  When  Lincoln  first  com- 
menced to  practice  law  nothing  brought  him  so  prominently 
before  the  public  as  his  punctuality  in  collecting  debts  for  his 
clients  and  paying  over  the  money.  At  that  time  two-thirds 
of  the  business  was  done  on  credit.  The  Illinois  merchants 
would  buy  their  goods  from  eastern  and  St.  Louis  mer- 
chants on  twelve  months'  credit  and  sell  them  to  farmers  orr 
the  same  terms.  The  consequence  was  that  the  notes  were 
not  paid  and  were  sent  to  a  lawyer  for  collection,  and  then 
it  would  be  as  much  trouble  to  get  the  money  from  the  law- 
yer as  from  the  customer.  When  Lincoln  collected  any 
money  he  immediately  turned  it  over  to  the  creditor.  In 
that  way  he  built  up  a  practice  which  extended  over  the 
country  and  earned  for  him  the  name  of  "Honest  Abe  LirLr 
coin." 

Ross  tells  about  meeting  him  in  the  spring  of  1838  be- 
tween Canton  and  Lewistown.  It  was  two  miles  north  of 
Lewistown,  and  as  they  rode  along  Lincoln  told  him  that  he 
had  been  attending  court  in  Knox  and  Warren  counties  and 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  59 

that  he  was  then  on  his  way  back  to  Springfield.  As  it  was 
late  in  the  day  and  as  the  roads  were  very  muddy,  Mr.  Lin- 
coln said. that  he  would  stay  in  Lewistown  over  night  and  he 
inquired  about  the  taverns.  Ross  directed  him  to  Truman 
Phelps'  tavern,  as  it  was  the  best,  so  he  stayed  there  over 
night.  He  had  a  large  portmanteau  on  his  saddle.  It  ap- 
peared to  be  well  filled  with  law  books  and  clothing.  He 
was  dressed  in  a  suit  of  Kentucky  jeans  over  which  he  wore 
a  heavy  overcoat,  having  four  capes  and  a  standing  collar 
and  fastened  with  a  hook  and  clasp.  He  also  wore  a  pair 
of  green  baize  leggings,  wrapped  three  times  around  the  leg 
and  tied  just  below  the  knee.  The  regular  meeting  of  the 
Lewistown  Lyceum  was  held  on  the  night  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
remained  there,  so  he  attended.  The  meetings  were  at- 
tended by  both  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and  were  held  in  the 
old  Methodist  church,  two  blocks  west  of  the  court  house. 
The  subject  for  discussion  that  evening  was  "Which  has 
done  the  most  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance  of 
our  republican  form  of  government  and  free  institutions, 
the  pen  or  the  sword?"  Mr.  Lincoln  was  invited  to  take 
part  in  the  debate,  which  he  did.  The  men  speaking  on 
the  side  of  the  sword  were  Lewis  Ross,  Richard  Johnson 
and  Joseph  Sharp  (all  lawyers).  Those  speaking  for  the 
pen  were  J.  P.  Boice,  Abraham  Lincoln  (lawyers)  and 
William  Kelly,  a  merchant  of  Lewistown.  The  speakers 
for  the  sword  commenced  with  George  Washington  and  ran 
down  to  Gen.  Jackson  and  other  generals  who  had  gained 
great  victories  by  the  sword. 

When  Lincoln  commenced  his  speech  he  eulogized  the 
other  side  for  the  effort  they  had  made,  but  he  said  that 
they  had  omitted  one  of  the  valiant  generals  who  had  lived 
in  their  own  country.  For  instance,  he  said,  there  is  Gen. 
Stillman,  who  led  the  volunteers  in  the  Black  Hawk  war. 
When  he  mentioned  the  name  of  Gen.  Stillman  a  smile 
came  over  the  face  of  everyone  present,  for  they  well  re- 


60  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

membered  the  general's  defeat  and  how  Black  Hawk  with 
his  little  band  of  Indians  had  driven  him  with  his  large 
force  fifteen  miles  into  Fort  Dixon.  After  Lincoln  joked 
them  a  little  about  their  generals  he  entered  into  the  sub- 
ject in  earnest  and  quoted  from  Patrick  Henry,  Benjamin 
Franklin  and  many  other  great  men,  and  he  showed  that 
he  was  well  posted  in  the  writings  and  history  of  our 
country.  He  made  a  royal  good  speech  and  the  judges 
awarded  his  side  the  victory  much  to  the  delight  of 
Messrs  Boice  and  Kelly.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  dressed  in  a 
suit  of  jeans  with  heavy  boots  and  looked  like  a  farmer, 
and  the  people  were  very  much  surprised  when  they  heard 
his  speech.  A  number  of  ladies  attended  the  meeting  and 
Miss  Isabel  Johnson  remarked  that  she  thought  the  rough 
looking  farmer  man  had  made  the  best  speech  of  the  even- 
ing. Attorney  Johnson,  who  was  one  of  Lincoln's  op- 
ponents in  the  debate,  and  who  was  known  more  familiarly 
as  Dick  Johnson,  went  to  California  in  1850  and  was  elected 
attorney  general  and  held  several  other  important  offices. 
He  called  on  Ross  after  he  had  went  to  California,  and 
asked  him  if  he  remembered  the  time  when  he  and  Lincoln 
measured  the  sword  and  pen  in  the  old  Methodist  church  in 
Lewistown.  He  said  he  little  thought  that  the  man  who 
defeated  him  then  would  some  day  become  the  president  of 
the  United  States.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  events  of  the  Black  Hawk  war,  for  he  enlisted  three 
times.  The  first  time  volunteers  were  called  out  by  Gov. 
Reynolds.  It  was  for  three  months  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
elected  captain  of  his  company.  After  the  company  had 
served  the  three  months  and  was  discharged  Lincoln  'a'gain 
enlisted  and  served  until  the  close  of  the  war. 

Ross  relates  the  circumstances  connected  with  Lincoln's 
speech  in  Lewistown  in  1858,  when  he  and  Douglass  were 
canvassing  the  state  for  United  States  senator.  He  was 
then  living  in  Vermont,  twenty  miles  from  Lewistown, 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  61 

and  he  and  his  wife  drove  to  Lewistown  to  hear  Lincoln 
speak.  Mrs.  Ross  had  often  heard  her  husband  speak  of 
Lincoln's  kindness  to  him  when  he  was  a  lad  carrying  the 
mail  and  she  wanted  to  hear  him  speak.  This  was  the 
only  political  meeting  she  had  ever  attended  though  she 
had  been  married  a  long  time.  They  found  Lincoln  at  L. 
W.  Ross'  house  sitting  on  the  west  porch.  Mr.  Lincoln 
delivered  his  address  in  front  of  the  old  court  house  on  a 
platform  between  two  of  the  pillars.  There  were  seats  for 
four  or  five  hundred  people  and  they  were  mostly  occupied 
by  ladies.  There  were  from  two  to  three  thousand  people 
present.  Lincoln  spoke  on  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  com- 
promise and  of  the  steady  and  sure  encroachment  of  slavery 
on  the  free  territory.  This  speech  was  considered  one  of 
his  best.  Ross  sat  in  a  front  seat  and  h;s  mind  was  carried 
back  twenty-five  years  when  he  attended  the  circus  at  Spring- 
field. He  thought  of  the  way  in  which  Lincoln  was  dressed 
that  day  and  how  he  chastised  him  for  coming  through 
Salem  without  having  the  mail  changed.  In  place  of  the 
short  pants,  brown  linen  coat,  low  shoes  tied  across  the 
instep  and  buckeye  hat  (mentioned  in  a  former  article)  he 
wore  a  fine  light  linen  suit,  fine  boots  and  a  silk  hat.  Major 
Newton  Walker  and  John  Proctor  accompanied  him  to  the 
court  house  in  a  carriage,  and  the  next  day  Major  Walker 
took  him  in  his  carriage  to  Canton,  where  he  was  to  speak. 
He  spoke  as  if  the  spirit  of  inspiration  rested  on  him  when 
he  quoted  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  said  that  it 
was  made  for  all  men.  It  was  not  for  the  rich,  for  if  it 
were  many  would  be  left  out.  It  was  not  for  the  red  man 
nor  the  white  or  black  man,  but  it  was  made  for  all  men 
and  all  races,  and  he  seemed  to  view  the  future  with  prophetic 
vision. 

When  Lincoln  ran  for  the  legislature  in  1832  and  was 
defeated  by  Peter  Cartright  he  was  not  discouraged,  for 
Cartright  was  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  popular  men 


62 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 


in  the  country.  It  was  a  stimulous  to  greater  activity  by 
him,  and  in  all  probability  it  was  a  providential  thing  that 
he  was  not  elected,  for  he  was  only  twenty-three  years  old 
and  had  not  applied  himself  to  that  diligent  study,  which 
prepared  him  for  the  great  duties,  which  he  was  after- 
wards called  on  to  perform.  After  his  defeat  he  applied 
himself  to  his  books  so  that  in  1834,  when  he  was  two  years 
older  and  considerably  wiser,  his  friends  again  brought  him 
out.  He  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority  and  was  again 


LINCOLN'S  OLD   HOME  AT  SALEM)  ILL. 

elected  in  1836,  1838  and  1840,  serving  four  terms  in  all. 
In  1846  he  was  elected  to  congress. 

I  will  now  go  back  and  state  a  few  facts  in  regard  to 
Mr.  Lincoln's  storekeeping  and  tell  how  he  became  involved 
in  a  debt,  which  hung  over  him  for  many  years.  There 
have  been  many  misstatements  in  regard  to  it.  When  Mr. 
Lincoln  kept  the  postoffice  the  salary  which  he  received  did 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  63 

•not  afford  him  a  fair  living,  and  it  kept  him  in  doors  so 
lie  could  not  pursue  any  other  occupation.  There  was  a 
young  man  by  the  name  of  William  Berry,  who  lived  four 
miles  southwest  of  town  with  his  father,  Rev.  John  M. 
Berry,  who  was  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  and  a  man  of 
considerable  property.  William  had  attended  the  Jackson- 
ville college  and  was  a  smart,  intelligent  young  man,  but  in- 
clined to  be  a  little  wild.  His  father  knowing  the  good 
habits  of  Lincoln  induced  him  to  take  William  into  partner- 
ship and  they  purchased  a  store,  paying  a  small  part  down 
and  giving  three  notes  for  the  balance.  They  kept  the 
store  in  the  same  building  with  the  postoffice  and  had  as 
fair  a  trade  as  any  of  the  merchants  in  the  town. 


LINCOLN'S  APPEARANCE 

In  person  Abraham  Lincoln  was  tall  and  rugged,  with 
little  semblance  of  any  historical  portrait,  unless  he  might 
seem  in  one  respect  to  justify  the  epithet  which  was  given 
to  an  early  English  monarch.  His  countenance  had  even 
more  of  a  rugged  strength  than  his  person.  Perhaps  the 
quality  which  struck  most  at  first  sight  was  his  simplicity 
of  manners  and  conversation,  which  were  without  form  or 
ceremony  of  any  kind.  His  hand  writing  had  the  same 
simplicity.  It  was  as  clear  as  Washington's,  but  less  florid. 
He  was  naturally  inclined  to  pardon  and  never  remembered 
the  hard  things  said  to  him.  He  was  always  good  to  the 
poor  and  his  dealings  with  them  were  full  of  those  little 
words  which  are  of  the  same  blood  as  good  and  holy  deeds. 
Such  a  character  awakened  instinctively  the  sympathy  of 
the  people.  They  saw  his  fellow  feeling  with  them  and  felt 
the  kinship.  As  when  he  was  president  -the  idea  of  repub- 


64  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

lican  institutions,  where  no  place  is  too  high  for  the  hum- 
blest, was  perpetually  manifested  so  that  his  mere  presence 
was  like  a  proclamation  of  the  equality  of  all  men.  While 
social  in  his  nature  and  enjoying  a  good  flow  of  conversa- 
tion, he  was  often  singularly  reticent.  Modesty  was  natural 
to  such  a  character,  as  he  was  without  affectation.  He  was 
without  pretense  or  jealousy.  No  person — civil  or  military 
— can  complain  that  he  appropriated  any  honor  belonging 
to  another.  To  each  and  all  he  gave  the  credit  that  was 
due.  His  humor  has  almost  become  a  proverb.  Sometimes 
he  insisted  that  he  had  no  invention,  but  only  a  memory. 
He  did  not  forget  the  good  things  that  he  had  heard,  and 
was  never  without  a  familiar  story  to  illustrate  his  mean- 
ing. At  times  his  illustrations  had  a  homely  argument, 
which  he  always  enforced  with  a  certain  intensity  of  man- 
ner and  voice.  He  was  original  in  mind  as  in  character  and 
his  style  was  his  own.  It  was  formed  from  no  model,  but 
sprung  directly  from  himself.  While  often  failing  in  cor- 
rectness, it  was  unique  in  beauty  and  sentiment.  There 
are  passages  of  his  which  will  live  always.  His  Gettysburg- 
speech  will  live  in  the  world's  oratory  as  long  as  time  shall 
last.  Such  passages  will  make  an  epoch  in  state  papers. 
No  president's  message  or  speech  from  a  throne  ever  had 
such  a  touching  reality.  While  these  speeches  were  uttered 
from  the  height  of  power,  they  reveal  a  simple  trust  in 
Almighty  God,  and  speak  to  the  people  as  equal  to  equal. 
There  was  one  theme  in  which  he  was  disposed  to  conduct 
the  public  mind.  It  was  the  treatment  of  theM-ebel  leaders. 
His  policy  was  never  announced,  but  it  was  well  known  that 
at  the  very  moment  of  his  assassination  he  was  much  occu- 
pied with  thoughts  of  pardon.  He  was  never  harsh.  Even 
in  regard  to  Jefferson  Davis  a  few  days  before  his  end,  one 
who  was  privileged  to  speak  in  that  way,  said :  "Do  not 
allow  him  to  escape  the  law.  He  must  be  hanged."  The 
president  calmly  replied  in  the  words  that  he  adopted  in 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  65 

his  last  inaugural  address:  "Judge  not  that  ye  be  not 
judged."  And  when  pressed  again  by  the  remark  that  the 
sight  of  Libby  Prison  made  it  impossible  to  pardon  him,  he 
repeated  twice  the  words,  unmistakably  revealing  the  gen- 
erous sentiments  of  his  heart. 


AS  A  LAWYER 

Lincoln  belonged  to  the  reasoning  class  of  men.  He 
dealt  with  his  own  mind  and  turned  things  over,  seeking 
the  truth  until  he  established  it  and  it  became  a  conviction. 
As  a  lawyer  he  never  claimed  anything  for  his  client.  He 
stated  something  of  both  sides  of  the  case.  He  has  been 
heard  to  say :  "Now  I  do  not  think  my  client  is  entitled 
to  the  whole  of  what  he  claims.  In  this  or  in  that  point 
he  may  have  been  in  error.  He  must  rebate  something  of 
his  claim."  He  was  very  careful  about  giving  offense,  and 
if  he  had  something  severe  to  say  he  would  turn  to  his  op- 
ponent or  to  the  party  referred  to  and  say,  "I  don't  like  to 
use  this  language,"  or  "I  am  sorry  that  I  have  to  be  hard 
on  that  gentleman." 

Therefore,  what  he  did  say  was  very  effective  and  he 
very  seldom  wounded  the  parties  interested.  Throughout 
Mr.  Lincoln's  life  that  kind  of  wisdom  attended  him  and 
made  him  great  and  skillful  in  handling,  the  people.  He 
had  a  smooth,  manly,  pleasing  voice,  and  when  arguing  in 
court  that  voice  attracted  the  jury  and  did  not  tire  them 
as  they  followed  the  argument  throughout.  He  was  not  a 
graceful  man.  He  would  lean  on  the  back  of  a  chair  or 
stand  with  his  arms  folded.  Yet  there  was  a  pleasure  in 
hearing  him.  A  lady  once  said  that  he  was  the  best  look- 
ing ugly  man  she  ever  saw. 


66  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 


HOW  HE  TRADED  HO'SES 

When  Mr.  Lincoln  was  a  lawyer  in  Illinois  he  and  a  cer- 
tain judge  got  to  bantering  one  another  about  trading- 
horses  and  it  was  agreed  that  next  morning  at  9  o'clock 
they  should  make  a  trade — the  horses  to  be  unseen  until 
that  hour  and  no  backing  out  under  a  forfeit  of  $25.  At 
the  appointed  hour  the  judge  came  up  leading  the  worst 
looking  specimen  of  a  horse  ever  seen  in  those  parts.  In  a 
few  minutes  Mr.  Lincoln  was  seen  approaching  with  a 
wooden  saw  horse  on  his  shoulder.  Great  shouts  of  laughter 
from  the  crowd  were  greatly  increased  when  Mr.  Lincoln, 
after  surveying  the  judge's  animal,  sat  down  his  saw  horse 
and  exclaimed :  "Well,  judge,  this  is  the  first  time  I  ever 
got  the  worst  of  it  in  a  horse  trade." 


HE  PREFERRED  GRANT'S  WHISKY 

It  the  war  of  the  rebellion  the  officers  were  very  jealous 
of  one  another.  Many  of  the  defeats  might  be  traced  to 
the  officers  being  afraid  that  some  other  man  would  get  the 
honor  of  a  victory.  Gen.  Palmer  was  always  kicking  for 
promotion  till  he  kicked  himself  out  of  the  army.  Before 
the  war  was  half  over  a  lot  of  these  officers,  being  jealous  of 
Grant's  continued  victories,  waited  on  old  Abe  and  clamored 
for  Grant's  removal.  He  heard  their  complaints  and  asked 
them  what  was  the  matter  with  Grant.  "Isn't  he  a  good 
fighter,"  said  he.  "Yes,"  replied  the  officers,  "but  he  drinks 
too  much  whisky."  "What  kind  of  whisky  does  he  drink?" 
asked  Lincoln.  The  officers  could  not  tell.  "Well,"  said 
Lincoln,  "I  wanted  to  know,  for  if  I  could  find  out  I  would 
order  a  barrel  of  the  kind  Grant  drinks  for  each  one  of  the 
generals  in  the  army."  They  saw  the  point  and  quietly 
withdrew. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 


67 


MR.  LINCOLN'S  APT  REPLY 

Lincoln's  opponent  for  the  legislature  in  1836  was  the 
Hon.  George  Forquer  of  Springfield,  who  was  celebrated 
for  having  introduced  the  first  lightning  rod  in  Springfield. 
He  said  in  a  speech  in  Lincoln's  presence,  "This  young 
man  will  have  to  be  taken  down  and  I  am  sorry  that  the 
task  falls  on  me."  He  then  proceeded  to  take  him  down. 
Mr.  Lincoln  made  a  reply  and  in  closing  turned  to  the 
crowd  and  said.  "Fellow  citizens,  it  is  not  for  me  to  say 
whether  I  am  up  or  down.  This  gentleman  had  alluded 
to  my  being  a  young  man.  I  am  older  in  years  than  ,in 
the  trades  and  tricks  of  politicians.  I  desire  to  live  and 
desire  place  and  distinction,  but  I  would  rather  die  now 
than  like  this  gentleman  live  to  see  the  day  that  I  would 
have  to  erect  a  lightning  rod  to  protect  a  guilty  conscience 
from  an  offended  God." 


CHAPTER  V. 


ROSS  AND  LINCOLN 

ARVEY  L.  ROSS,  of  Oakland,  Calif.,  gives  a 
very  interesting  account  of  his  first  acquaint- 
ance with  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  was  in  1832, 
just  after  Lincoln  had  moved  to  Salem  and 
Harvey  was  carrying  mail  from  Lewistown  to  Havana.  It 
had  to  be  carried  twice  a  week  on  horseback.  Harvey  was 
a  young  stripling  and  chose  to  carry  the  mail  rather  than 
work  on  the  farm  or  clerk  in  the  store.  At  this  time  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  postmaster  and  also  clerked  at  Hill's  store. 
The  postoffices  between  Lewistown  and  Springfield  were 
Havana,  $alem,  Athens  and  Sangamon.  Lincoln  was  post- 
master at  Salem,  and  Ross  was  there  four  times  a  week. 
He  was  only  a  few  years  younger  than  Lincoln  and  they 
were  very  intimate.  Ross  put  up  at  the  hotel  where  Lin- 
coln boarded  and  often  assisted  him  in  the  store  and  helped 
him  sort  the  mail  and  would  often  carry  packages  for  him 
to  customers  along  the  road.  He  afterwards  met  him  often 
while  attending  court  in.  Mason  county.  In  the  beginning 
court  was  held  in  Havana.  It  was  held  in  the  bar  room  of 
the  hotel  and  some  of  the  bed  rooms  were  used  for  jury 
rooms.  Ross  recollects  one  time  when  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  attorney  for  Frank  Low  in  a  suit  against  Reuben  Coon 
for  slander  in  which  Low  got  judgment  against  Coon  for 
$500.  The  first  time  Ross  and  Lincoln  met  was  at  Jack 
Armstrong's,  five  miles  north  of  Salem.  Lincoln  often 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  69 

stayed  at  Armstrong's.  Sometimes  he  would  stay  a  month 
at  a  time.  They  thought  a  great  deal  of  Abe  as  Hannah 
Armstrong  called  him.  When  Jack  Armstrong  had  any 
work  to  do  he  would  get  Lincoln  to  help  him,  as  his  boys 
were  small.  Hannah  would  do  Abe's  sewing,  patching, 
mending,  knit  his  socks  and  darn  them.  In  fact  she  treated 
him  as  a  son.  Abe  never  forgot  her  kindness  and  was 
enabled  in  after  years  to  fully  repay  her.  When  Ross  first 
met  Lincoln  at  Armstrong's  he  asked  him  who  he  was.  He 
said  he  was  Abe  Lincoln  and  that  he  was  working  for  a 
few  days  for  Jack  Armstrong.  He  was  tall  and  slender  and 
dressed  in  home-made  jeans,  about  the  same  kind  that  the 
majority  of  the  young  men  wore  at  that  time.  The  next 
time  he  met  him  was  at  the  Rutledge  tavern  in  Salem.  He 
was  at  that  time  working  for  Samuel  Hill,  the  Salem  mer- 
chant. Hill  kept  the  only  permanent  store  in  Salem.  He 
had  all  the  kinds  of  goods  that  the  people  called  for.  He 
kept  blue  calico,  muslin  and  cham.  Every  person  did  their 
own  weaving  or  had  it  done.  Jean  was  a  staple  article.  It 
was  mostly  colored  blue,  but  occasionally  butternut,  which 
was  a  brown.  The  stores  all  kept  a  lot  of  home-made  peans 
in  stock.  I  think  the  prices  ran  from  30  to  40  cents  a 
yard. 

The  boys  who  went  to  college  in  those  days  spent  their 
vacations  on  the  farms.  Among  these  were  Richard  Yates. 
the  great  war  governor,  and  William  Green,  better  known 
as  Slicky  Bill  Green.  Lincoln  had  been  helping  his  father 
in  the  hay  harvest.  Green  said  that  Lincoln  could  pitch 
more  hay  than  any  other  hand  his  father  had.  When  Lin- 
coln found  that  Green  had  been  to  college  he  asked  him  if 
he  had  brought  any  books  home  with  him.  Green  replied 
that  he  had,  and  Lincoln  told  him  that  he  never  had  the 
advantage  of  an  education  and  said  he  would  like  to  study 
grammar  and  arithmetic.  He  asked  Green  if  he  would  as- 


70  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

sist  him  and  Green  said  that  he  would.  Lincoln  said  that 
the  country  surveyor,  Mr.  Calhoun,  at  Springfield,  had 
been  talking  about  appointing  him  deputy  surveyor  if  he 
would  qualify  himself  for  the  place.  He  was  anxious  to  get 
the  position  as  there  was  a  good  deal  of  surveying  to  be 
done  around  Salem.  So  Lincoln  would  get  up  early  in 
the  morning  and  feed  the  horses  and  then,  with  the  help  of 
Green,  go  at  the  grammar  and  arithmetic  until  breakfast. 
At  night  they  would  resume  their  studies.  After  Mr.  Lin- 
coln returned  to  the  store  at  Salem,  Green  would  take  his 
books  when  he  went  to  town  and  they  would  study  under 
the  shade  trees.  Green  said  he  never  saw  anyone  who  could 
learn  as  fast  as  Lincoln.  In  fact  Lincoln  did  qualify  him- 
self and  made  one  of  the  best  surveyors  they  ever  had  in 
that  part  of  the  country.  A  friendship  sprung  up  between 
Green  and  Lincoln  that  only  ended  in  death.  In  time  of 
the  rebellion  Green  was  one  of  Lincoln's  most  trusted 
friends  and  was  often  sent  on  errands  connected  with  the 
war.  It  was  related  that  Green  and  a  few  of  his  Menard 
friends  went,  in  one  of  the  dark  periods  of  the  war,  to  see 
the  president.  The  White  House  was  guarded  by  a  cordon 
or  soldiers.  Green  and  his  friends  were  unable  to  gain  en- 
trance, but  Green's  wit  never  failed  him.  Going  to  another 
entrance  Green  and  his  friends  locked  arms  and  marched 
up.  Green  waved  his  hand  said,  "Make  way,  gentlemen,  for 
Gov.  Yates  and  his  staff."  The  crowd  parted  and  Green 
and  his  friends  marched  in. 

I  recollect  in  1868  I  was  a  delegate  to  the  republican 
convention  that  nominated  Palmer  for  governor.  Green 
was  a  delegate  from  Menard  County.  The  thugs  of  Chi- 
cago had  come  down  in  force  to  ply  their  game.  Green 
had  always  boasted  that  his  pockets  had  never  been  picked. 
One  day  as  the  convention  had  adjourned  for  noon  and  the 
crowd  was  coming  down  the  stairs  of  Rouse's  Hall,  the 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  71 

jam  was  fearful.  Green  was  caught  in  it  and  relieved  of  all 
his  money.  "John  they  have  got  my  .pocketbook"  was  all 
that  he  said  to  his  friend,  John  H.  Spears.  Green  died  five 
years  ago  in  Tallula,  in  Menard  County,  111.  I  make  this 
passing  mention  of  William  G.  Green  as  he  was  one  of  the 
men  who  heard  Abraham  Lincoln  recite  his  grammar  and 
arithmetic. 


ANECDOTES  OF  LINCOLN 

There  are  many  incidents  in  the  early  life  of  Lincoln 
which  have  never  appeared  in  print.  The  unwritten  his- 
tory, which  the  people  of  Old  Salem  are  acquainted  with 
and  which  will  be  handed  down  by  tradition,  and  most 
of  the  incidents  which  we  relate  we  know  or  heard  old 
settlers  relate. 

The  early  settlers  of  Menard  (though  it  was  Sangamon 
then)  were  comprised  of  two  classes.  The  first  class  was 
made  up  of  good  men  of  excellent  morals,  who  came  to 
the  county  to  make  a  home  for  themselves  and  children. 
Their  first  effort  (after  building  the  cabins)  was  to  look 
after  the  social  and  religious  welfare  of  the  people.  They 
were  the  law  abiding  citizens,  who  laid  the  foundation  on 
which  their  children  built.  These  men  never  took  part  in 
the  drunken  brawls  and  fights  which  the  people  who  formed 
the  second  class  always  engaged  in.  The  first  class  were 
always  respected  even  by  the  rowdies. 

The  second  class  were  more  in  favor  of  a  physical 
specimen  of  manhood  and  while  they  at  their  homes  were 
good  neighbors,  kind  and  accommodating,  when  they  went 
to  town  or  before  they  got  in  town  the  devil  got  into  them 
and  they  were  ready  for  a  fight.  I  recollect  one  time  of 
seeing  about  a  dozen  of  them  just  ready  to  start  home. 


72  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

They  were  on  their  horses  and  trying  to  pull  each  other  off 
when  Little  John  Wiseman  said  to  Greasy  George  Miller — 
"George,  you  have  torn  my  shirt."  "Yes,"  said  George, 
"and  I  can  tear  your  hide  too."  That  was  enough.  They 
all  got  down  and  hitched  their  horses  and  formed  a  ring 
and  the  crowd  all  stopped  to  see  fair  play.  The  two  com- 
batants shook  hands  and  then  stepped  back  eight  or  ten  feet 
and  at  the  word  "go"  rushed  at  each  other.  These  fights 
only  differed  from  the  prize  fights  that  are  being  fought 
weekly  in  our  cities  in  one  respect.  A  prize  fight  is  fought 
according  to  rules,  while  the  Old  Salem  battles  had  no  rules. 
They  were  strike,  gouge, 'bite,  kick,  anyway  to  win. 


But  to  come  back  to  the  early  settlement  of  Salem. 
South  of  Salem  there  was  a  settlement  called  Wolf  and  it 
goes  by  that  name  yet  because  its  people  were  a  little  wolfish 
in  their  make-up.  West  of  Salem  were  Clary's  Grove  and 
Little  Grove,  the  Green,  Armstrong  and  Watkins  neighbor- 
hoods. North  of  Salem  before  Petersburg  had  come  into 
prominence  were  Concord,  Sand  Ridge  and  east  of  the 
Sangamon  were  New  Market,  Sugar  Grove,  Indian  Point 
and  Athens.  All  of  these  communities  met  at  Salem  every 
Saturday  to  trade  and  to  hear  what  was  going  on  in  the 
different  localities.  It  was  about  this  time  that  Lincoln 
was  pursuing  the  occupation  of  surveyor  in  Salem  though 
he  clerked  in  a  grocery  store  a  short  time  before.  He  was 
a  quiet  soul.  His  first  employment  was  on  the  brow  of 
the  hill  where  the  three  trees  grow  out  of  the  cellar.  Gov. 
Palmer  said  at  the  Old  Salem  Chautauqua  that  Lincoln 
planted  these  trees.  This  is  a  mistake.  Thousands  who 
know  better  believe  that  the  trees  cannot  be  over  twenty- 
five  years  old.  The  building  had  been  torn  away  for  forty 
years.  In  a  short  time  the  boys  began  to  size  up  "Uncle 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  73 

Abe"  and  concluded  to  try  his  metal,  so  they  consulted  and 
macle  him  an  alternative.  First  he  was  to  run  a  foot  race 
was  a  man  from  Wolf.  'Trot  him  out,"  said  Abe.  Second 
he  was  to  wrestle  with  a  man  from  Little  Grove.  "All 
right,"  said  Abe.  Third,  he  must  fight  a  man  from  Sand 
Ridge.  "Nothing  wrong  about  that,"  said  Abe. 

An  expert  foot  racer  from  Wolf  was  distanced  in  the 
race.  After  a  few  minutes  rest  a  Little  Grove  man  stripped 
for  the  wrestle.  "What  holds  do  you  prefer  ?"  "Suit  your- 
self," said  Abe.  "Catch-as-catch-can,"  said  the  man  from 
the  Grove.  They  stood  about  twenty  feet  apart  and  went 
at  each  other  like  two  rams.  Abe's  opponent  was  a  short, 
heavy  set  fellow  and  came  with  his  head  down  expecting  to 
butt  Abe  and  upset  him,  but  Abe  was  not  built  that  way. 
He  stepped  aside  and  caught  the  fellow  by  the  nap  of  the 
neck,  threw  him  heels  over  head  and  gave  him  a  fall  hard 
enough  to  break  every  bone  in  his  body.  This  woke  the 
boys  up  and  they  retired  again  to  consult.  Abe  was  now 
getting  mad.  "Bring  in  your  man  from  Sand  Ridge,"  said 
he,  "I  can  do  him  up  in  three  shakes  of  a  sheep's  tail,  and  I 
can  whip  the  whole  pack  of  you  if  you  give  me  ten  minutes 
between  fights."  The  committee  now  came  forward  and 
gave  him  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  and  said,  "You  have 
sand  in  your  craw  and  we  will  take  you  into  our  crowd  as 
you  are  worthy  to  associate  with  us."  From  that  time  on 
Abe  was  king  among  them.  His  word  was  law.  He  was 
their  judge  in  horse  and  foot  races  and  all  of  them  would 
have  fought  for  him  if  Abe  had  shown  the  "white  feather." 


Lincoln  never  drank  liquor  of  any  kind  and  never 
chewed  or  smoked.  We  never  heard  him  swear,  though 
Judge  Weldon  said  at  the  Salem  Chautauqua  that  once  in 
his  life  when  excited  he  said,  "By  Jing." 


74  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

Amusements  in  those  early  days  were  confined  to  play- 
ing marbles  and  in  pitching  quoits.  The  quoits  were  'flat 
rocks  in  which  the  country  abounded.  Marbles  were  Abe's 
best  hold.  Many  times  did  I  gather  up  the  marbles  as  he 
scattered  them  in  all  directions. 

Bowling  Green,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  lived  a  half  mile 
north  of  Salem.  He  took  a  liking  to  Lincoln.  He  lent  him 
his  law  books  and  encouraged  him  to  read  law.  My  father 
kept  the  log  tavern  from  1832  to  1835  and  he  with  Bowling 
Green  probably  had  as  much  to  do  with  the  shaping  of  the 
destiny  of  Lincoln  as  any  other  men  in  Salem. 

Bowling  Green  was  a  large,  fleshy  man  and  weighed 
300  pounds,  in  1843.  He  went  to  spend  a  Sunday  evening 
with  a  neighbor,  named  Bennett  Able,  and  while  there  had 
a  stroke  of  apoplexy  and  fell  dead.  It  was  in  the  winter 
time.  He  was  buried  on  the  hill-side  just  north  of  his  home. 
In  the  spring  the  Masons  came  down  from  Springfield  one 
Sunday,  uncovered  the  grave  and  had  their  ceremonies. 
Lincoln  was  the  orator  of  the  occasion.  He  referred  to 
Green  as  the  friend  of  his  early  youth  and  told  how  much 
he  owed  to  the  men  over  whose  grave  they  stood. 


Lincoln  moved  to  Springfield  in  1837  and  was  soon  at 
the  head  of  the  bar.  All  lawyers  in  those  days  were  intel- 
lectual giants.  We  asked  Robert  Lincoln  a  few  years  ago 
if  the  lawyers  of  Chicago  compared  with  those  in  his  father's 
time.  He  said:  "No.  All  the  good  lawyers  are  now  re- 
tained by  railroads  and  corporations  and  do  not  practice 
in  lower  courts."  Lincoln  practiced  in  Menard  County 
until  he  was  elected  president.  It  was  like  a  reunion  when 
he  came.  His  friends  would  stirround  him  and  he  would 
call  them  by  their  given  names.  It  was  John,  Bill,  Joe  and 
so  on.  His  power  before  a  Menard  County  jury  was  ir- 


75 

resistable,  though  he  had  to  contend  with  Baker,  Logan, 
Stewart,  Edwards,  McConnell,  Douglass  and  Hardin.  His 
style  of  oratory  was  grand  beyond  description.  He  would 
first  lay  the  foundation  and  then  build  the  structure  and 
leave  no  part  unguarded.  Then  he  would  carry  everything 
before  him.  He  was  no  bulldozer  and  never  took  advantage 
of  his  opponent.  He  seemed  unconscious  of  his  power.  It 
appeared  as  if  a  mighty  pent-up  body  of  matter  was  let 
loose,  and  as  if  some  terrible  cyclone  was  tearing  through 
the  forest.  Everything  gave  way  to  his  splendid  eloquence. 
It  was  in  these  early  days  that  he  fitted  himself,  like  Moses 
and  David,  for  the  grand  work  he  was  to  perform  in  after 
years. 


LINCOLN'S  EARLY  LIFE 

In  the  following  letters  which  may  follow,  I  am  indebted 
for  many  of  the  facts  to  Harvey  L.  Ross,  who  with  his 
father,  Ossian  Ross,  settled  in  Havana  in  1828,  and  built 
the  Havana  Hotel,  which  was  the  largest  house  within  fifty 
miles  of  Havana.  The  house  stood  for  twenty  years  and 
was  burned  in  1848.  Ross  kept  the  ferry,  which  was  the 
only  place  where  the  river  could  be  crossed  between  Beards- 
town  and  Pekin. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  travel  and  crossing  at  that 
point.  Ross  run  the  ferry,  kept  the  hotel,  carried  on  a 
farm,  kept  store,  was  postmaster  and  carried  the  mail  be- 
tween Lewistown  and  Havana.  He  had  four  sons,  Lewis. 
Harvey,  Leonard  and  Pike.  Harvey  carried  the  mail, 
though  only  a  boy  of  fifteen  years  of  age.  The  offices 
between  Lewistown  and  Springfield  were  Havana,  New 
Salem,  Athens  and  Sangamontown.  At  New  Salem  Har- 
vey Ross  and  Lincoln  first  met.  Lincoln  was  a  year  the 


76  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

oldest,  and  now  we  will  let  Harvey  Ross  tell  his  own  story : 
"The  first  time  I  ever  met,  saw  or  heard  of  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  in  1832.  I  had  stopped  over  night  at  Jack 
Armstrong's,  who  lived  on  a  farm  five  miles  northwest  of 
Salem,  Petersburg  had  not  then  been  laid  out.  I  then  saw 
a  young  man  whom  I  had  never  met  before.  I  asked  him 
who  he  was,  and  he  said  his  name  was  Abe  Lincoln.  lie 
was  tall  and  slender,  and  was  dressed  in  common  home  spun 
jeans  that  the  majority  of  young  men  wore — about  the  same 
as  I  wore  myself.  The  next  time  I  saw  Lincoln  to  become 
acquainted  with  him  was  at  the  log  tavern  at  New  Salem, 
kept  by  James  Rutledge.  I  was  carrying  the  mail  from 
Lewistown  and  Springfield,  and  put  up  at  the  tavern  where 
Lincoln  was  boarding.  He  was  at  that  time  a  clerk  in  the 
store  of  Samuel  Hill,  a  merchant  of  Salem.  Mr.  Lincoln 
had  been  to  New  Orleans  with  a  flat  boat  load  of  produce, 
and  Mr.  Hill  had  sent  100  barrels  of  flour  that  was  ground 
at  the  Salem  Water  Mill.  Lincoln  had  sold  the  flour  at  a 
good  price  and  was  so  prompt  in  making  returns  that  Hill 
made  him  a  clerk  in  the  store.  Hill  had  the  largest  stock 
of  goods  in  town  and  also  kept  the  postoffice.  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  very  attentive  to  business;  was  kind  and  obliging  to 
the  customers,  and  they  had  so  much  confidence  in  his  hon- 
esty that  they  preferred  to  trade  with  him  rather  than  Hill. 
This  was  true  of  the  ladies  who  said  he  was  honest  and 
would  tell  the  truth  about  the  goods.  I  went  into  the  store 
one  day  to  buy  a  pair  of  buckskin  gloves,  and  asked  him  if 
he  had  a  pair  that  would  fit  me.  He  threw  down  a  pair  on 
the  counter :  'There  is  a  pair  of  dogskin  gloves  that  I  think 
will  fit  you,  and  you  can  have  them  for  75  cents.'  When  he 
called  them  dogskin  I  was  surprised,  as  I  had  never  heard 
of  such  a  thing  before.  At  that  time  no  factory  gloves  had 
been  brought  into  the  county.  All  the  gloves  and  mittens 
then  worn  were  made  by  hand,  and  by  the  women  of  the 
neighborhood  from  tanned  deer  skins,  and  the  Indians  did 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  77 

the  tanning.  A  large  buckskin  could  be  bought  for  50  to  75 
cents.  So  I  said  to  Lincoln:  'How  do  you  know  they  are 
dogskin?'  'Well/  he  said,  Til  tell  you  how  I  know  they  are 
dogskin.  Jack  Clary's  dog  killed  Tom  Watkin's  sheep, 
and  Tom  Watkin's  boy  killed  the  dog,  old  John  Mounts 
tanned  the  dogskin  and  Sally  Spears  made  the  gloves,  and 
that  is  the  way  I  know  they  are  dogskin  gloves.'  So  I  asked 
no  more,  but  paid  six-bits,  took  the  gloves,  and  can  truly  say 
that  I  have  worn  buckskin  and  dogskin  gloves  for  60  years 
and  never  found  a  pair  that  did  me  such  service  as  the  pair 
I  got  from  Lincoln. 

"I  understand  that  Lincoln  received  $20  a  month  clerk- 
ing for  Hill,  which  was  considered  good  wages  at  the  time, 
though  he  had  to  pay  $2  a  week  for  his  board.  While  Lin- 
coln was  clerking  for  $20  a  month,  Hill  gave  him  the  privi- 
lege of  going  out  to  work  in  time  of  harvest,  where  he  could 
earn  from  $i  to  $1.25  per  day,  and  when  the  harvest  was 
over  he  would  come  back  to  the  store  again. 

"In  1835  I  nad  taken  my  brother  back  to  college,  and 
met  many  of  the  boys  who  had  been  at  home  to  help  take 
care  of  the  harvest,  among  them  William  G.  Green,  who 
while  at  home,  said  a  young  man  named  Abe  Lincoln,  from 
Salem,  had  come  ou  to  help  them.  He  said  that  Lincoln 
could  pitch  more  hay  than  any  hand  his  father  had.  When 
Lincoln  found  that  Green  had  been  to  college  he  asked  if  he 
had  brought  his  books  home  with  him.  He  said  he  never 
had  the  advantage  of  an  educator  and  would  like  to  study 
grammar  and  arithmetic,  and  asked  Green  if  he  would  assist 
him  and  Green  consented  to  do  so. 

Lincoln  had  a  warm  place  in  his  heart  for  Green  and 
showed  him  many  favors  after  he  was  elected  president. 
He  went  to  see  him  at  Washington  while  he  was  president. 
Lincoln  was  very  glad  to  see  him  and  introduced  him  to  his 
cabinet  officers  and  told  them  that  he  was  the  young  man 
who  had  taught  him  grammar  and  arithmetic.  W.  G. 


78  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

Green  has  been  dead  several  years,  but  was  more  intimately 
acquainted  with  'Honest  Old  Abe'  than  any  other  living 
person." 

After  Lincoln  left  Hill,  he  took  the  postoffice  and  finding 
that  it  would  not  support  him  he  took  a  young  man  by  the 
name  of  William  Berry  in  partnership  and  opened  a  country 
store.  Their  stock  consisted  mostly  of  groceries,  but  they 
also  had  many  notions,  hats,  mittens,  etc.  The  entire  stock 
could  not  have  been  worth  more  than  $1,200.  The  charge 
has  been  made  that  Lincoln  took  out  license  and  kept  a 
saloon  in  the  store.  Judge  Douglass,  in  his  debate  with  Lin- 
coln, occasionally  charged  Lincoln  that  he.  had  kept  a  saloon. 
Lincoln  replied  that  he  had  never  sold  a  glass  of  liquor 
over  the  counter,  but  if  he  had  run  a  saloon  and  Douglass 
had  lived  in  the  vicinity  he  would  have  been  his  best  cus- 
tomer. Air.  Ross  is  certain  that  no  whisky  was  sold  by  the 
drink  while  Lincoln  had  an  interest  in  it.  It  may  have  been 
sold  by  the  gallon,  as  all  stores  kept  it  as  they  kept  vinegar. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


LINCOLN'S  OLD  HOME 

CORRESPONDENT  of  the  Chicago  Tribune, 
writing  from  Old  Salem,  two  miles  south  of 
Petersburg,  written  in  1884,  gives  the  follow- 
ing interesting  communication  about  Lincoln 
and  his  early  boyhood  home : 

I  \vrite  from  a  town  without  a  postoffice,  a  tavern  or 
shop.  There  is  not  a  house  in  sight.  From  the  hill  where 
I  sit  under  the  shade  of  three  trees  whose  branches  make 
one,  I  look  out  over  the  Sangamon  river  and  its  banks, 
covered  apparently  with  primeval  forests.  Around  are  fields 
overgrown  with  weeds  and  stunted  oak.  We  may  say  of  it 
as  of  Troy  :  "Salem  fruit."  It  was  a  town  of  ten  or  twelve 
years  only;  began  in  1824  and  ended  in  1836.  Yet  in  that 
time  had  a  history  which  will  not  die;  not  so  long  as  it 
venerates  the  memory  of  the  noble  liberator  and  martyr, 
President  Abraham  Lincoln. 

I  -came  here  today  with  a  few  old  settlers  as  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  this  "Mecca  of  the  soul."  W.  G.  Green,  the 
associate  clerk  and  life  friend  of  Lincoln;  Murry  Goff, 
president  of  the  Old  Settles'  Association ;  J.  G.  Strodtmanu, 
county  treasurer;  Judge  John  Tice,  an  old  surveyor,  a  per- 
sonal friend  of  Lincoln ;  and  Hobert  Hamilton,  engineer, 
made  up  the  party.  Judge  Tice  and  Strodtmann  wrent  ahead 
in  a  buggy  to  pilot  the  way.  The  rest  of  us  followed  in  a 
carriage  drawn  by  two  mules.  We  drove  up  from  Peters- 


8o  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

burg  about  two  miles,  passing  on  the  way  site  of  the  old 
mill,  run  by  Lincoln  and  the  remains  of  the  old  dam  on 
which  his  flat-boat  lodged  when  floating  down  from  Sanga- 
montown  on  the  way  to  New  Orleans. 

After  much  debate  as  to  the  mode  of  reaching  the  old 
site,  we  entered  an  old  field  through  a  gate,  and,  driving 
up  a  hill  showing  a  wheel  track  through  tall  weeds,  we  rode 
over  the  streets  of  the  old  town.  The  weeds  were  as  high 
as  the  horses'  backs.  Mr.  Rice  stood  up  in  his  buggy,  and 
surveying  the  landscape,  pointed  out  places  where  the  weeds 
were  lower.  "There  was  Cameron's  boarding  house,  where 
Lincoln  boarded  when  he  kept  store  for  Denton  Offit.  Near 
it  was  George  Warburton's  store  and  beyond  was  Sam 
Hill's.  Over  there  to  the  south  was  the  Baptist  church  and 
the  cemetery  alongside." 

Mr.  Green  pointed  out  the  sight  of  Rutledge's  house. 
"There,"  said  he,  "there  is  where  Ann  Rutledge  lived.  Lin- 
coln was  engaged  to  her.  Her  death  almost  broke  his  heart. 
He  told  me  once  that  he  didn't  want  to  live.  He  couldn't 
bear  the  thought  that  the  rain  was  falling  on  her  grave  and 
she  was  sleeping  in  the  cold  ground.  We  had  to  watch  him 
to  keep  him  from  harming  himself." 

"Right  here  was  Denton  Offit's  store  where  Lincoln  and 
I  were  clerks  together."  Mr.  Green  had  not  been  here  for 
forty  years,  yet  recognized  the  spot. 

A  small  depression  showed  a  former  cellar.  Out  of  it 
grew  three  trees  about  fifty  feet  high,  with  boughs  inter- 
laced, making  one  in  their  outline.  There  was  a  locust 
thorn,  with  leaves  like  a  fine  fringe,  an  elm  and  a  cotton- 
Wood. 

The  elm  and  cottonwood  grew  out  of  the  stump,  as  if 
forming  one  tree.  The  dark  leaves  of  the  elm  and  bright 
broad  leaves  of  the  sycamore  were  intermingled,  as  from 
one  trunk. 

"Behold,"  said  Mr.  Green,  "an  emblem  of  Union  main- 
tained by  Lincoln." 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  81 

Mr.  Green  pointed  out  the  spot  where  Lincoln  had  the 
Joneses,  Greens  and  others  had  planned  to  try  Lincoln's 
wrestling  match  with  the  Armstrongs. 

"The  Clary  Grove  boys,  composed  of  the  Armstrongs, 
pluck;  they  challenged  him  to  wrestle.  Jack  Armstrong, 
the  biggest  one,  took  him  in  hand  and  tried  to  throw  him. 
He  tried  all  sorts  of  tricks,  got  foul  holds  and  inside  leg 
hitches,  all  in  vain.  Then  Lincoln  said  that  if  they  were 
for  enemies,  he  was  ready ;  or  friends,  as  it  suited  them.  Big 
Jack  Armstrong  slapped  him  on  the  back  and  said,  'Oh,  we 
were  only  in  fun.'  It  was  the  son  of  those  very  Armstrongs 
(Duff)  that  Lincoln  defended  and  saved  from  conviction 
of  murder  by  producing  the  old  almanac  by  which  the  jury 
was  convinced  that  the  moon  did  not  shine  as  witnesses  had 
testified.  They  acquitted  the  prisoner  in  five  minutes.  Duff 
Armstrong  is  still  living. 

"These  were  the  Armstrongs  that  wrecked  Radford's 
store.  I  can  tell  the  story  in  a  few  minutes.  Radford  had 
a  store  right  over  (in  the  weeds).  It  was  the  first  put  up. 
A  friend  told  him  to  look  out  for  Clary  Grove  boys  or  they 
would  smash  him  up.  He  said  he  was  not  afraid.  He  was 
a  great  big  fellow.  But  his  friend  said,  'they  don't  come 
alone.  If  one  can't  whip  you  two  or  three  can ;  and  they 
will  do  it.'  One  day  he  left  the  store  in  charge  of  his 
brother  with  the  injunctions  that  if  the  Clary  Grove  boys 
came  not  to  let  them  have  more  than  two  drinks.  All  the 
stores  in  those  days  kept  liquors  to  sell,  and  had  a  corner 
for  drinking.  The  store  was  nicely  fitted  up  and  had  many 
things  in  glass  jars  nicely  labeled.  The  Clary  Grove  boys 
came  in  and  took  two  drinks.  The  clerk  refused  them  any 
more  as  politely  as  he  could.  Then  they  went  behind  the 
counter  and  helped  themselves.  They  got  roaring  drunk 
and  went  to  work  to  smash  everything  in  the  store.  The 
fragments  on  the  floor  were  an  inch  deep.  They  left  and 
went  off  on  their  horses  whooping  and  yelling.  Coming 


82  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

across  a  herd  of  cattle  they  took  the  bells  from  their  necks 
and  fastened  them  to  the  tails  of  the  leaders  and  chased  them 
over  the  country,  yelling  like  mad.  Radford  heard  them, 
and  mounting,  rode  in  hot  haste  to  the  store.  I  had  been 
sent  that  morning  with  a  grist  to  Lincoln's  mill.  It  was  at 
the  dam  you  see  down  there,  and  I  had  to  pass  the  store.  I 
saw  Radford  ride  up.  His  horse  was  in  a  lather  of  foam. 
He  dismounted  and  looked  in  on  the  wreck  through  the  open 
doors.  He  was  aghast  at  the  spectacle  and  said,  Til  sell 
out  this  thing  to  the  next  man  that  comes  along/ 

"I  rode  up  and  looking  through  the  window  that  had 
been  smashed,  said,  "I'll  give  you  $400  for  it.'" 

"Done,"  said  he. 

I  said,  "But  I  have  no  money,  I  must  have  time." 

"How  much?" 

"Six  months." 

"Agreed." 

He  drew  up  a  note  for  $400  at  six  months  and  I  signed 
it.  I  began  to  think  I  was  stuck.  The  boys  came  in,  among 
them  Lincoln. 

"Cheer  up,  Billy,"  said  he,  "it's  a  good  thing;  we  will 
take  an  inventory." 

"No  more  inventories  for  me,"  said  I,  not  knowing  what 
he  meant. 

He  explained  that  he  should  take  an  account  of  the  stock 
to  see  what  was  left. 

We  found  it  amounted  to  $1,200.  Lincoln  and  Berry 
consulted  over  it  and  offered  me  $750  for  my  bargain.  I 
accepted  it,  stipulating  that  they  should  assume  my  notes. 
You  see  I  always  wanted  to  keep  up  my  credit. 

Berry  was  a  wild  fellow — a  gambler;  had  a  fine  horse 
and  a  splendid  saddle  and  bridle.  He  turned  over  the 
horse  as  part  pay.  They  gave  me  $250  in  silver.  I  stowed 
this  under  my  hunting  shirt  and  rode  off  at  night  for  home. 
I  had  sent  my  grist  to  mill  by  a  boy  who  carried  home  the 


83 

story  of  my  purchase.  As  I  rode  along  I  was  pleased  with 
my  horse,  and  especially  with  the  ribbon  on  the  bridle.  My 
father  was  in  bed  when  I  arrived.  He  sang  out,  "So,  Billy, 
you  are  a  merchant,  are  ye's?  You  git  along  to  bed  and  I'll 
come  and  thrash  the  merchant  out  of  you  mighty  quick." 

"I  went  to  the  kindling  pile  and  raked  over  the  coals  that 
had  been  covered  up  and  made  a  light.  Then  I  said :  Top, 
have  sold  out  and  I  got  this.'  I  pulled  out  a  dollar  and 
showed  it  to  him,  and  then  another  and  another,  one  by 
one,  till  I  had  out  $250.  He  raised  up  and  said,  'I  must 
take  a  chaw.'  He  pulled  out  a  plug  from  under  his  pillow 
and  called  out  to  mother :  'Liz,  get  up  and  get  this  young 
fellow  a  first-rate  supper,  he  has  had  a  hard  day's  work.' 

"Lincoln  let  Berry  run  the  store  and  it  soon  ran  out.  I 
had  to  pay  the  note.  Lincoln  said  he  would  pay  it  some 
day.  We  used  to  talk  about  it  as  the  National  debt.  Finally 
he  paid  it  with  interest." 

Mr.  Goff  remarked :  "The  Clary  Grove  boys  were  al- 
ways up  to  some  mischief.  They  trimmed  the  manes  and 
tails  of  horses,  cut  bridles  so  that  but  a  little  remained  to 
break  at  the  first  pull;  cut  girths,  put  stones  under  saddles 
so  as  to  cause  riders  to  be  thrown  mounting.  Right 
here  in  front  of  Offit's  store  they  rolled  James  Jordan  down 
that  hill.  You  see  it  goes  down  at  an  angle  of  45  degrees. 
Then  it  reached  down  to  the  river  200  feet,  and  there  was 
no  road  there  as  there  is  now.  He  used  to  come  here  for 
whisky  15  miles,  and  he  would  get  his  fill.  When  drunk 
the  Armstrongs  headed  him  up  in  a  hogshead.  He  was  a 
large,  fat  fellow,  and  nearly  filled  it.  Then  they  sent  it 
rolling  down  the  hill.  It  went  with  increasing  velocity, 
threatening  to  go  into  the  river,  when  it  was  caught  under 
a  leaning  white  oak,  and  their  victim  liberated.  Lincoln 
was  here,  surrounded  by  tough  fellows  of  this  stamp,  but 
even  then  he  had  his  eye  on  the  future.  He  was  studying 
to  be  a  lawyer.  All  had  confidence  in  his  judgment  and 


84 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 


honesty.     He  didn't  drink  like  the  others,  yet  he  was  not  a 
total  abstainer. 

"I  won  my  first  hat  on  a  bet  that  he  could  take  a  drink 
of  whisky  from  the  bung  of  a  4O-gallon  barrel.  You  see  a 
man  named  Estep  had  a  trick.  He  twisted. his  fingers  in 
a  knot,  and  then  bet  you  couldn't  mark  his  little  finger.  I 
had  lost  several  bets  on  it,  when  Lincoln  said  he  would  help 
me  get  even  with  him.  He  showed  me  how  he  could  lift 


"THE  THREE  GRACES" 
Growing  in  the  Cellar  of  Lincoln's  Store  at  Salem,  III. 

a  barrel  of  whisky  on  his  knees  and  put  his  mouth  to  the 
bung  hole.  He  told  me  to  take  a  keg  and  hold  it  up  as  if 
drinking  and  bet  a  fur  hat  that  Lincoln  could  take  up  a 
barrel  of  whisky  and  drink  from  the  bung  hole.  Estep 
took  the  bet  and  lost. 

"Lincoln  came  to  Salem  on  a  flat-boat.  Offit  had  built 
a  flat-boat  at  the  head  of  the  river,  loaded  it  with  bacon, 
corn,  hogs  and  goods  of  all  sorts,  and  set  out  to  go  to  New 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  85 

Orleans.  Lincoln  was  put  in  charge.  He  started  down  in 
the  spring  flood.  Arriving  at  the  dam  opposite  Salem  the 
scow  struck.  It  was  unloaded  and  a  store  set  up  on  the 
bank. 

"At  one  time  there  were  three  stores  here,  and  a  church 
serving  as  a  school  house.  Now  all  is  desolate.  Peters- 
burg, started  by  George  Warburton  and  Peter  Lukins— 
took  the  wind  out  of  its  sails.  It  was  abandoned  for  a 
short  time.  "The  roof-tree  moulded  on  the  crumbling  wall. 
Then  all  disappeared,  and  only  a  few  holes  are  left  to  show 
where  the  houses  and  stores  once  were." 

A  move  is  on  foot  to  revive  the  memory  of  Old  Salem 
and  have  a  park  laid  out  embracing  the  old  site.  It  would 
be  an  attraction  to  tourists,'  and  of  those  who  wish  to  see 
from  what  humble  beginnings  and  under  what  circum- 
stances greatness  could  spring. 


HOW  LINCOLN  CURED  CHARLES  REVIS  FROM 
SWEARING 

Mr.  Lincoln,  though  not  a  church  member,  and  never 
made  a  profession  of  religion,  was  always  disgusted  and 
shocked  \vhen  he  heard  men  making  use  of  profane  lan- 
guage, and  a  circumstance  will  illustrate.  It  took  place 
when  Lincoln  was  keeping  postoffice  and  store  in  New 
Salem.  A  young  man  by  the  name  of  Charles  Revis,  about 
twenty  years  of  age,  lived  with  his  father,  John  Revis,  on 
the  bluff  of  the  Sangamon  River  a  few  miles  north  of 
Salem.  Charlie,  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  was  in  the 
habit  of  coming  to  Salem  about  every  other  day  and  would 
make  the  postoffice  his  headquarters.  Here  he  would  sit 
and  spin  out  his  yarns  to  the  men  who  would  gather  around 
him.  As  he  had  at  one  time  been  a  hand  on  a  keel-boat  he 
had  contracted  the  habit  of  using  profane  language.  He 


86  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

could  swear  by  note.  In  fact,  almost  every  other  word  was 
an  oath.  He  was  so  in  the  habit  of  swearing  that  he  scarcely 
knew  when  he  did  swear. 

One  day  he  came  into  the  store  while  a  couple  of  ladies 
were  in  the  store  doing  some  trading,  and  getting  their  mail. 
Charlie  was  sitting  on  a  dry  goods  box  telling  his  stories  to 
his  companions  and  almost  every  word  would  utter  one  of 
his  big  oaths. 

Lincoln  noticed  that  the  ladies  were  very  much  shocked 
at  his  profanity,  and  after  they  had  left  Lincoln  walked 
up  to  Revis  and  said  to  him :  "Now  Charlie  Revis,  I  have 
admonished  you  a  number  of  times  about  swearing  in  this 
store  before  ladies  and  you  have  paid  no  attention  to  it 
and  now  I  am  going  to  punish  you  so  you  will  recollect  it." 
So  he  took  him  by  the  arm  and  led  him  out  a  short  distance 
from  the  store  to  a  vacant  lot  where  there  was  a  large  patch 
of  smart  weed. 

He  threw  him  on  his  back  and  put  his  foot  on  his  breast 
and  commenced  to  gather  smart  weed.  He  then  com- 
menced and  rubbed  his  face,  eyes  and  mouth  with  it  till 
Revis  began  to  yell  and  he  promised  Mr.  Lincoln  if  he 
would  let  him  up  he  would  never  swear  in  the  presence  of 
ladies  again.  Lincoln  told  him  to  promise  that  he  would 
never  swear  before  anybody  again  and  Charlie  promised. 
Mr.  Lincoln  let  him  up  and  a  complete  reformation  was 
made  in  the  language  of  Charlie  Revis,  and  from  that  day 
his  most  intimate  friends  said  that  they  never  heard  an  oath 
escape  his  lips.  When  they  asked  him  why  he  had  stopped 
so  suddenly  from  using  profane  language  he  said  that  he 
had  promised  Mr.  Lincoln  that  he  \vould  stop  swearing 
and  that  he  was  going  to  keep  his  word.  In  a  short  time 
Peter  Cartright  held  a  camp  meeting  in  that  community 
and  Charles  Revis  and  a  number  of  his  companions  were 
converted  and  formed  a  church.  Charlie  got  married  and 
settled  down  and  was  one  of  the  best  citizens  in  all  that 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  87 

.community,  and  it  may  be  that  the  severe  means  that  Lin- 
coln employed  bore  the  right  point  in  reforming  Charles 
Revis  and  a  right  application  of  smart  weed  well  rubbed 
in  would  help  a  great  many  in  this  day  who  use  great  red 
hot  oaths  in  there  conversation. 


LINCOLN  AS  POSTMASTER  AT  SALEM 

Samuel  Hill  was  the  first  postmaster  at  Salem,  Sanga- 
mon  County,  111.  He  was  a  merchant  and  kept  the  largest 
stock  of  goods  in  town.  Whisky  was  among  the  goods  and 
wares  that  were  for  sale  in  his  store.  Mr.  Hill  was  a 
democrat  and  had  received  the  appointment  of  postmaster 
under  the  administration  of  Andrew  Jackson.  The  post- 
office  was  in  the  same  building  and  the  same  room  where 
the  goods  wrere  kept.  The  whisky  was  in  the  same  room 
also.  It  wras  the  custom  in  those  times  for  most  all  of  the 
merchants  to  sell  whisky  as  they  did  sugar,  coffee  and  tea. 
It  was  also  the  custom  of  the  women  in  the  town  as  well 
as  in  the  country  to  go  to  the  postoffice  to  get  the  mail 
for  the  family  and  there  were  often  complaints  made  by 
them  that  they  were  compelled  to  wait  an  unreasonable 
length  of  time  to  get  their  mail.  They  stated  that  if  a  cus- 
tomer came  into  the  store  to  get  a  gallon  of  whisky  they 
would  have  to  wait  until  the  whisky  was  drawn  before 
they  were  given  their  mail,  and  that,  there  was  strong  com- 
petition among  the  merchants  for  the  whisky  business,  but 
none  in  the  postoffice  business.  So  the  people  had  to  wait  for 
their  mail  and  they  became  disappointed  with  the  way  that 
Hill  was  running  the  postoffice  and  they  got  up  a  petition 
to  have  him  put  out  and  Mr.  Lincoln  appointed  in  his  place. 
The  petition  was  signed  by  the  majority  of  the  patrons  of 
the  office.  At  that  time  politics  cut  but  little  figure  in  the 
appointments  of  postmasters  in  small  towns.  The  petition 


88  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

had  to  have  the  endorsement  and  recommendation  of  some 
postmaster  who  was  known  and  well  known  at  the  depart- 
ment at  Washington.  The  petition  in  question  was  sent  by 
O.  M.  Ross,  who  was  then  postmaster  at  Havana.  He  was 
one  of  the  oldest  and  best  known  postmasters  in  that  part  of 
the  country,  having  been  the  first  postmaster  in  Lewistown. 
which  office  he  held  until  he  moved  to  Havana.  Upon  ex- 
amination he  found  that  the  petition  was  signed  by  some  of 
the  best  known  men  in  Salem.  Ross  himself  knew  Lincoln, 
so  he  sent  the  petition  to  Washington  with  the  recommenda- 
tion that  Mr.  Lincoln  be  appointed  postmaster  at  Salem. 
About  five  weeks  after  the  petition  was  sent  to  Washington 
Mr.  Lincoln  received  his  appointment.  At  that  time  there 
were  no  railroads  and  it  took  a  long  time  to  get  a  letter  to 
Washington  and  the  have  an  answer  sent. 

The  duties  at  a  postoffice  in  those  early  pioneer  days 
were  quite  different  from  what  they  are  at  the  present  time 
and  the  work  was  much  more  laborious.  For  instance,  a 
book  had  to  be  kept  in  which  all  letters  sent  from  the  office 
had  to  be  registered,  giving  the  name  of  the  postoffice  from 
which  they  were  received,  the  postoffice  to  which  they  were 
sent,  the  date  and  the  amount  of  postage  due  on  each  letter 
and  then  a  way  bill  was  made  out  to  correspond  with  the 
register  and  sent  with  the  letter.  In  those  times  we  had  no 
envelopes.  A  letter  had  to  be  wrapped  in  a  piece  of  wrap- 
ping paper  and  tied  with  a  piece  of  twine.  Then  a  copy  of 
those  registered  letters  had  to  be  drawn  off  every  three 
months  and  sent  to  the  department  at  Washington.  This 
was  called  the  postmaster's  quarterly  returns.  It  was  a 
great  deal  of  work.  At  that  time  there  were  no  gold  or 
steel  pens  and  all  the  writing  had  to  be  done  with  a  quill 
plucked  from  the  wing  of  a  turkey  or  goose.  The  postage 
on  a  letter  at  that  time  in  the  United  States  was  6*4,  12^2, 
18^4  or  25  cents,  according  to  the  distance  they  were  sent. 
All  letters  sent  across  the  ocean  were  from  37^2  to  50  cents. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  89 

No  postage  was  paid  on  the  letters  when  they  left  the  office 
but  was  all  collected  when  the  letter  was  delivered. 

After  Mr.  Lincoln  had  kept  the  postoffice  about  two 
years  in  Salem  the  county  of  Sangamon  was  divided  and  the 
county  of  Menard  formed.  The  county  seat  was  located  at 
Petersburg,  which  was  two  miles  north  of  Salem,  and  soon 
after  that  was  done  the  postoffice  was  removed  to  Peters- 
burg. As  Mr.  Lincoln  wanted  the  house  and  lot  where  he 
kept  the  postoffice  he  did  not  feel  disposed  to  pull  up  stakes 
and  go  to  Petersburg,  so  he  resigned.  He  remained  at 
Salem,  keeping  the  house,  which  he  had  used  for  the  post- 
office,  for  a  law  office  and  lodging  place. 

At  the  time  that  Lincoln  kept  the  postoffice  in  Salem,  O. 
M.  Ross  had  the  contract  of  carrying  the  mail  from  Lewis- 
town  to  Springfield  twice  a  week.  The  postoffices  between 
the  two  places  were  Havana,  Salem,  Athens  and  Sangamon. 
The  way  he  received  his  pay  for  the  service  was  to  receive  a 
draft  from  the  department  at  Washington,  on  the  different 
offices  on  the  route,  and  as  Harvey  was  the  mail  carrier, 
these  drafts  were  given  to  him  to  collect.  He  would  have  to 
call  on  some  of  the  postmasters,  as  many  as  three  and 'four 
times  before  they  could  pay,  but  it  was  not  so  with  Mr.  Lin- 
coln. He  always  had  the  money  ready  to  pay  as  soon  as  the 
drafts  were  presented.  He  kept  the  postoffice  money  in  a 
blue  stocking  laid  away  in  a  chest  under  the  counter.  When 
the  drafts  were  presented  he  would  unlock  the  chest,  take  out 
the  blue  stocking,  pour  out  the  money  on  the  counter  and 
commence  to  count  it.  It  was  all  6j4,  12^,  25  and  50  cent 
pieces,  just  the  same  money  that  he  had  taken  in. 

When  Mr.  Lincoln  resigned  the  office  of  postmaster  at 
Salem,  he  had  in  his  possession  some  fifty  dollars,  which 
was  due  the  postoffice  department.  This  money  he  kept 
ready  to  hand  over  whenever  called  upon  by  the  proper 
agent.  In  those  times  it  was  the  custom  for  the  department 
at  Washington  to  send  out  an  agent  every  year  to  look  after 


go  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

the  western  offices  and  to  settle  up  with  the  postmasters  and 
carriers.  Some  several  months  after  Lincoln  had  sent  in  his 
resignation,  the  agent  called  upon  him  for  a  settlement. 
When  he  called  Mr.  Lincoln  was  in  his  law  office.  When 
the  agent  presented  the  account  Mr.  Lincoln  looked  at  it  and 
presumed  that  it  was  all  right,  and  went  behind  the  counter 
and  opened  the  chest  and  took  the  blue  stocking  from  it.  He 
poured  the  money  on  the  counter  and  commenced  to  count  it. 
It  consisted  of  6^4,  12^2,  25  and  5o-cent  pieces,  just  the 
same  money  that  he  had  received  for  postage.  When  the 
money  \vas  counted  it  agreed  to  a  cent  with  the  account  that 
the  agent  presented.  After  they  had  settled  and  the  money 
was  paid  over  the  agent  remarked  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  "Now, 
Mr.  Lincoln,  you  might  as  well  have  used  that  money  as  to 
have  it  wrapped  up  in  that  stocking  and  laid  away  in  your 
chest  where  it  could  do  no  good."  Mr.  Lincoln  straightened 
himself  up  and,  looking  the  agent  square  in  the  face,  said: 
"No,  sir,  I  never  make  use  of  money  that  does  not  belong  to 
me."  Now  that  saying  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  "I  never  make  use 
of  money  that  does  not  belong  to  me,"  comes  forcibly  to  my 
mind.  How  many  men  all  over  our  land  are  today  serving 
out  terms  in  state  prisons  just  because  they  did  not  adopt 
Mr.  Lincoln's  saying,  "I  never  make  use  of  money  that  does 
not  belong  to  me." 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  OF  LINCOLN 

On  the  twelfth  of  February,  1809,  there  was  born  in  the 
wilderness  of  Lame  county,  Kentucky,  one  of  the  best  and 
greatest  men  that  ever  lived — Abraham  Lincoln.  His  father 
was  a  poor  farmer,  and  in  the  wild  life  of  the  Dackwoods, 
his  entire  schooling  did  not  exceed  a  year,  but  while  at  school 
he  was  noted  as  a  good  speller,  but  more  for  his  hatred  of 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  91 

cruelty.  His  earliest  composition  was  a  protest  against 
putting  coals  of  fire  on  the  back  of  a  captured  terrapin.  He 
wore  coarse,  home-made  clothes  and  a  coon  skin  cap.  His 
trousers,  owing  to  his  rapid  growth  (before  his  seventeenth 
birthday  he  was  six  feet,  four  inches  tall)  were  always  nearly 
a  foot  too  short.  His  last  attendance  at  school  was  in  1826 
when  he  was  seventeen  years  old.  After  leaving  school  he 
read  everything  within  his  reach  and  copied  passages  and 
sentences,  which  attracted  his  attention.  His  first  knowledge 
of  law,  in  which  he  afterwards  became  eminent,  was  through 
the  statutes  of  Indiana  lent  to  him  by  a  constable.  He  also 
obtained  considerable  knowledge  of  grammar  from  a  bor- 
rowed book,  which  he  studied  by  the  light  of  shavings  in  a 
cooper  shop.  After  his  family  had  emigrated  in  1830  to 
Illinois,  in  1834  he  was  elected  to  the  Illinois  legislature. 
He  was  three  times  re-elected,  was  admitted  to  the  practice 
of  law  in  1836  and  then  moved  to  Springfield — the  state 
capitol.  In  1846  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  beating  Peter 
Cartright,  the  backwoods  preacher.  In  1854  he  was  the 
recognized  leader  of  the  Republican  party.  In  1860  he  was 
a  candidate  for  the  presidency,  receiving  a  majority  of  votes 
over  any  other  candidate,  and  was  installed  in  the  presi- 
dential chair  March  4,  1861.  His  election  to  the  presidency 
was  followed  by  the  secession  of  eleven  states  and  a  war 
for  the  restoration  of  the  union  as  a  military  measure.  He 
proclaimed  January  i,  1864,  the  freedom  of  all  slaves  in  the 
seceding  states  and  was  re-elected  to  the  presidency  in  1864. 
The  war  was  brought  to  a  close  April  2,  1865,  and  on  the 
fifteenth  of  the  same  month,  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  was 
ended  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin.  Thus  when  he 

"Had  mounted  fame's  ladder  so  high 
From  the  round  at  the  top  he  could  touch  the  sky" 

the  great  President  passed  to  his  rest,  and  in  the  moment  of 
his  triumph  was  laid  by  the  side  of  Washington — the  one, 
the  father,  and  the  other,  the  savior  of  his  country. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


LINCOLN'S  RELIGIOUS  BELIEF 

UBLIC  men  are  not  as  a  general  thing,  noted  for 
their  pretty  talk.  The  average  politician  and 
his  life,  doings  and  conversation,  are  not  much 
in  accordance  with  the  Christian  religion.  He 
puts  Christ  and  salvation  in  the  back  ground,  and  yet  in  the 
last  hours  he  generally  leaves  some  testimony  as  to  what  he 
thought  of  the  future.  So  the  last  words  of  noted  men  are 
treasured.  Stephen  A.  Douglas'  last  words  were  supposed 
to  be  addressed  to  his  sons,  directing  them  to  understand  the 
constitution  and  the  laws,  and  to  obey  them.  Daniel  Web- 
ster when  about  to  expire  said, '"I  still  live."  These  words 
are  supposed  to  be  prophetic  and  sound  beautiful.  An  old 
colored  preacher  used  the  same  meaning  when  he  said : 
"My  breden,  what  did  Daniel  Webster  say  when  his  friends 
were  standin'  'romr  and  thought  that  he  was  gone?  He  jus 
rized  up  and  said,  'I  ain't  dead  yet.'  '  This  sounded  ridicu- 
lous, but  expressed  the  same  meaning  as  the  words  spoken  by 
Webster  himself. 

While  Lincoln  did  not  discuss  theology,  nor  even  make 
a  public  profession  of  religion,  be  was  always  a  very  moral 
and  exemplary  man.  One  day  a  minister  remarked  to  him 
that  he  believed  he  was  a  Christian  man  and  asked  him  why 
he  did  not  join  some  church.  Mr.  Lincoln  replied,  that  if 
he  could  find  some  church  whose  creed  and  requirements 
could  be  simmered  down  to  the  condensed  statement,  "Thou 
shalt  love  the  Lord,  thy  God,  with  all  thy  heart,  with  all  thy 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  93 

soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself," 
he  would  join  that  church  was  his  heart  and  soul. 

In  1851  Mr.  Lincoln  learned  that  his  father  was  not  ex- 
pected to  live,  and  as  he  had  sickness  in  his  own  family  and 
could  not  go  he  wrote  to  his  half  brother.  "I  sincerely  hope 
that  father  will  recover,  but,  at  all  events,  tell  him  to  remem- 
ber to  call  upon  and  confide  in  our  great,  good  and  merciful 
maker,  who  will  not  turn  away  from  him.  He  notices  the 
fall  of  the  sparrows  and  numbers  of  hairs  of  our  head,  and 
He  will  not  forget  the  dying  man  who  places  his  trust  in 
Him.  Say  to  him,  that  if  we  could  meet  now,  it  is  doubtful 
whether  it  would  be  more  painful  or  pleasant,  but  if  it  be  his 
lot  to  go  he  will  have  a  joyful  meeting  with  the  loved  ones 
gone  before  and  the  rest  of  us  will  hope,  through  the  help  of 
God,  to  join  them  e'er  long."  It  will  be  remembered  that 
when  he  was  going  from  Springfield  to  Washington,  to  be 
inaugurated,  he  addressed  a  crowd  from  the  cars  as  he  was 
leaving  his  old  home  and  he  spoke  as  follows :  "A  duty  de- 
volves on  me,  which  is  perhaps,  greater  than  has  devolved 
on  any  other  man  since  the  days  of  Washington.  He  would 
never  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid  of  Divine  Providence 
upon  which  he  at  all  times  relied.  I  feel  that  I  cannot  suc- 
ceed without  the  same  divine  aid,  and  in  the  same  Almighty 
Being  I  place  my  reliance  for  support  and  I  hope  that  you, 
my  friends,  will  all  pray  that  I  may  receive  that  divine  aid 
without  which  I  cannot  succeed,  but  with  which  success  is 
certain."  At  another  time,  when  our  armies  were  meeting 
with  reverses  and  the  destiny  of  the  nation  seemed  hanging 
in  a  balance,  President  Lincoln  appointed  a  day  for  prayer 
for  the  success  of  our  armies  in  the  following  words : 

"Whereas,  When  our  beloved  country  once  by  the  blessings 
of  God  united,  prosperous  and  happy,  is  now  afflicted  with 
factions  and  civil  wars,  it  is  fit  for  us  to  recognize  the  hand 
of  God  in  this  terrible  visitation  and  in  sorrowful  remem- 


94  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

brance  of  our  own  faults  and  crimes  as  a  nation  and  as  in- 
dividuals, to  humble  ourselves  before  Him  and  to  pray  for 
His  mercy — to  pray  that  we  may  be  spared  further  punish- 
ment (though  most  justly  deserved),  that  our  armies  may  be 
helped  and  be  made  effectual  for  the  re-establishment  of  law 
and  order  and  peace  throughout  the  country,  and  that  the  in- 
estimable boon  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  earned  under 
His  guidance  and  blessing,  by  the  labor  and  suffering  of  our 
fathers,  may  be  restored  in  all  its  original  excellence. 

"Therefore  I,  Abraham  Lincoln,  president  of  the  United 
States,  do  appoint  the  last  Thursday  in  September  next,  as 
a  day  of  humiliation,  prayer  and  fasting,  for  all  the  people 
of  the  nation,  and  I  do  earnestly  recommend  to  all  the  people 
and  especially  to  all  ministers  and  teachers  of  religion,  of  all 
denominations,  and  to  all  the  heads  of  families,  to  keep  that 
day  according  to  their  several  creeds  and  modes  of  worship, 
in  all  humility  and  with  all  religious  solemnity  to  the  end 
that  the  united  prayers  of  the  nation  may  ascend  to  the 
throne  of  grace  and  bring  down  plentiful  blessings  upon  our 

country. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 

"President  of  the  United  States." 

The  above  proclamation  shows  his  dependence  upon  a 
higher  power.  No  president  ever  showed  such  faith  in  Al- 
mighty God  during  such  a  momentous  crisis  as  the  one  he 
was  called  to  pass  through.  A  calm  trust  in  God  was  the 
loftiest  characteristic  in  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  HG 
had  learned  this  long  ago.  "I  would  rather  my  son  would  be 
able  to  read  the  bible  than  to  own  a  farm  if  he  can  have  but 
one,"  said  his  mother.  The  bible  was  Abraham  Lincoln's 
guide. 

A  lady  who  was  interested  in  religious  work  had  oc- 
casion to  have  several  interviews  of  a  business  nature  with 
Lincoln.  He  was  very  much  impressed  with  the  earnestness 
of  purpose  which  she  manifested  and  on  one  occasion  aftei 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  95 

she  had  accomplished  the  object  of  her  visit  he  said  to  her: 
"I  have  formed  a  very  high  opinion  of  your  Christian  char- 
acter and  now  as  we  are  alone  I  have  a  miiad  to  ask  you  to 
give  me  in  brief  your  idea  of  what  constitutes  a  born  religi- 
ous experience."  The  lady  replied  at  some  length  that  in 
her  judgment  it  consisted  of  a  conviction  of  one's  own  sinful- 
ness  and  weakness  and  personal  need  of  the  Savior  for 
strength  and  support.  She  said  that  views  of  mere  doctrine 
might  and  would  differ,  but  when  one  was  really  brought  to 
feel  the  need  of  divine  help  and  to  seek  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  for  strength  and  guidance  it  was  satisfactory  evidence 
that  he  had  been  born  again."  This  was  the  substance  of  her 
reply.  When  she  had  concluded  Mr.  Lincoln  was  thought- 
fuf  for  a  few  minutes  and  then  said  very  earnestly :  ''If 
what  you  have  told  me  is  a  correct  view  of  this  great  subject 
I  can  say  with  sincerity  that  I  hope  I  am  a  Christian.  I  had 
lived  until  my  boy  Willie  died  without  fully  realizing  these 
things.  That  blow  overwhelmed  me  and  showed  me  my 
weakness  as  I  had  never  felt  it  before,  and  if  I  can  take  what 
you  have  told  me  as  a  test,  I  think  I  can  safely  say  that  1 
know  something  of  that  change  you  speak  of.,  I  will  further 
add  that  it  has  been  my  intention  for  some  time  at  a  suitable 
opportunity,  to  make  a  public  religious  profession."  This 
shows  his  deep  religious  conviction. 

Take  Abraham  Lincoln  and  judge  him  by  what  standard 
you  will  and  he  stands  head  and  shoulders  above  his  fellows. 
He  was  born  for  a  great  mission  and  well  did  he  fill  it.  He 
fouglit  the  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith. 


ABE  LINCOLN  AND  SLICKEY  BILL  GREEN 

In  the  perilous  times  of  the  civil  war  Slickey  Green  went 
to  Washington  to  see  and  consult  with  President  Lincoln. 
The  president  recognized  Slickey  as  soon  as  he  entered  the 
White  House. 


96  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

"How  are  you,  Bill?"  said  he. 

"How  are  you,  Abe?"  said  Bill. 

Secretary  Stanton  was  by  and  Lincoln  introduced  Green. 
Stanton  gave  him  a  cool  reception,  without  rising  from  his 
seat,  whereupon  Lincoln  gave  Stanton  a  rebuke  by  saying . 
"Mr.  Green  is  the  man  who  made  me,  and  I  am  the  man  who 
made  you,  Mr.  Stanton." 

Then  Abe  and  Slickey  sat  down  for  a  long  talk,  in  which 
Lincoln  recited  the  perilous  condition  of  the  country.  Lin- 
coln asked  about  all  the  principal  men  in  Menard  county,  and 
if  they  were  standing  by  him.  Bill  -told  him  they  were. 
Abe  then  asked  how  Henry  Clark  stood.  Bill  told  him  that 
he  \vas  sorry  to  inform  him  that  Clark  was  not  for  him. 
After  a  few  moments  reflection  Lincoln  said : 

"When  you  go  home  you  see  Clark  and  tell  him  that  i 
once  stood  by  him  in  an  early  encounter,  and  now  I  want  him 
to  stand  by  me  in  this  terrible  time." 

"When  Green  came  home  he  saw  Clark,  and  told  him  what 
Lincoln  had  said,  and  afterwards  Abe  had  no  surer  friend 
in  Menard  county  than  Henry  Clark. 


Lincoln's  great  hold  upon  the  common  people  arose  from 
the  fact  that  he  was  the  representative  of  them.  He  had  a 
supreme  contempt  for  snobbery  and  never  failed  to  rebuke  it 
when  he  had  the  opportunity. 

At  one  tinie  a  couple  of  English  dudes  visited  the  White 
House.  They  found  the  president  with  hair  unkempt  and 
clothes  unbrushed.  After  a  few  remarks  the  president  put 
his  foot  upon  a  chair  and  taking  a  blacking  brush  went  to 
work  on  his  shoes.  The  Englishmen  were  amazed,  and  one 
of  them  said,  "Why  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  London  no  gentleman 
blacks  his  own  shoes." 

"No?"  said  old  Abe,  pausing  to  spit  on  the  brush, 
"Whose  shoes  does  he  black  ?" 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  97 

A  few  days  ago  I  was  on  Salem  hill  and  I  stopped  in 
front  of  the  spot  where  the  old  hotel  stood.  Memory  carried 
me  back  three  score  years  when  I  saw  Abe  Lincoln  playing 
marbles  and  pitching  quoits  on  the  very  spot  where  I  stood, 
and  where  his  musical  voice  and  ringing  laugh  could  be 
heard  above  all  his  comrades.  It  is  a  wonder  the  ground 
at  old  Salem  is  not  marked  so  that  the  visitor  to  that  sacred 
spot  can  be  better  informed  as  to  the  locality  of  the  buildings 
and  other  historic  scenes  of  the  town.  I  made  arrangements 
with  James  Bale  a  few  weeks  ago  in  which  he  was  to  have 
old  Salem  mowed  and  furnished  suitable  posts  and  boards, 
and  I  agreed  to  locate  where  each  building  stood,  with  the 
owner's  name  and  the  business  that  he  followed. 

I  understand  that  I  am  the  only  person  now  living  that 
can  do  it.  Salem  is  destined  to  become  the  Mt.  Vernon  of 
the  west.  Every  allusion  made  by  speakers  at  Old  Salem 
Chautauqua  that  touched  upon  the  history  of  this  spot  found 
a  hearty  response.  While  at  old  Salem  Chautauqua  a  few 
weeks  ago  I  met  Uncle  John  Roll,  who  is  nearly  a  hundred 
years  old.  He  was  an  old  comrade  of  Lincoln's  at  a  nearly 
day.  He  is  still  in  good  health  and  bids  fair  to  become  a 
centenarian.  He  assisted  Lincoln  to  build  the  last  flat  boat 
that  went  down  the  Sangamon  at  Sangamontown,  and  he 
delights  to  talk  of  his  early  career.  They  must  have  been 
intimate  friends  for  Lincoln  gave  him  his  dog  when  he 
started  for  Washington  to  be  inaugurated. 

Mr.  Roll  had  a  picture  of  the  dog,  which  he  took  great 
delight  in  showing.  He  also  had  a  gold  watch  which 
Stephen  A.  Douglas  used  to  carry.  It  was  in  a  heavy  gold 
case  with  S.  A.  Douglas  carved  on  the  back.  He  could 
probably  get  a  large  sum  of  money  if  he  was  willing  to  sell 
it.  It  was  a  great  treat  to  meet  a  comrade  of  Lincoln's,  who 
had  lived  with  him,  shared  his  toils  and  helped  him  achieve 
his  triumphs. 


98  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

TRIAL  OF  DUFF  ARMSTRONG 

Hannah  Armstrong  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of 
Menard  county.  Her  maiden  name  was  Jones.  She  grew 
up  as  most  other  maidens  did  in  that  early  day,  without  the 
advantages  of  culture  and  refinement  that  mark  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  present  time.  She  was  healthy  and  strong,  of 
commanding  appearance,  had  a  strong  mind  and  was  en- 
dowed with  good  sense.  It  may  be  that  she  was  masculine 
in  some  of  her  ways. 

She  married  Jack  Armstrong,  and  with  no  capital  other 
than  strong  hearts  and  willing  hands  they  commenced  the 
battle  of  life.  They  never  grew  rich,  but  they  were  happy 
and  contented. 

In  the  "thirties"  Abraham  Lincoln  came  to  Salem.  An 
acquaintance  soon  sprang  up  between  him  and  the  Arm- 
strong family.  He  made  his  home  with  them  for  weeks  at 
a  time  and  Aunt  Hannah  treated  him  as  one  of  her  children. 
Lincoln  never  forgot  her  kindnesses,  and  years  afterward, 
when  he  had  become  a  lawyer  of  prominence,  he  was  able 
to  repay  her  kindness  by  defending  and  clearing  her  son, 
Duff  Armstrong,  of  the 'charge  of  murdering  James  Medscar 
at  a  camp-meeting  in  Mason  county.  The  trial  became  fam- 
ous and  the  name  of  Hannah  Armstrong  is  today  known  all 
over  the  world  on  account  of  her  relationship  to  the  de- 
fendant. 

Historians  and  biographers  have  published  to  the  world 
that  Lincoln  used  a  "doctored"  almanac  and  by  that  means 
deceived  the  jury.  I  had  heard  it  so  often  that  I  believed  it, 
and  I  confess  that  it  lowered  Lincoln  in  my  estimation.  On 
writing  to  Judge  William  Walker,  now  of  Missouri,  but 
who  was  then  practicing  law  at  Havana,  111.,  and  was  chief 
counsel  for  Armstrong,  assisted  by  Caleb  Dilworth,  I 
learned  the  facts.  The  trial  was  to  come  off  at  Beardstown. 
Lincoln  had  written  to  Aunt  Hannah  that  he  would  clear 


REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN  99 

her  son.  He  appeared  in  Beardstown  about  the  time  the 
trial  began  and  asked  Walker's  permission  to  help  in  the 
case.  Walker  examined  the  witnesses.  They  all  testified 
the  murder  was  committeed  at  10  p.  m.  and  that  the  moon 
was  shining  as  bright  as  day.  Lincoln  was  taking  notes 
and  would  get  each  witness  to  repeat  the  statement :  "as  light 
as  day  and  at  10  p.  m." 

Lincoln  was  to  make  the  closing  speech.  After  the 
other  lawyers  had  finished  Lincoln  got  up  and  said  that  the 
prosecution  seemed  to  have  a  clear  case.  Then  rising  in  his 
grandeur  he  said  :  "These  witnesses  have  all  perjured  them- 
selves and  I  can  prove  it !"  Then  he  produced  the  almanac 
and  showed  that  at  ten  o'clock  on  the  night  of  the  murder 
the  moon  had  not  yet  risen.  That  the  tragedy  occurred  in 
a  deep  ravine.  That  on  the  east  bank  of  the  ravine  was  a 
heavy  body  of  timber,  and  that  it  must  have  been  two  hours 
after  the  moon  came  up  before  it  threw  any  light  into  the 
ravine.  He  thus  showed  that  the  witnesses  were  mistaken 
and  so  cleared  his  client.  The  newspapers  at  that  time  were 
not  justified  in  charging  Lincoln  with  having  j>ubstituted  an 
old  almanac  for  one  of  that  year. 

Aunt  Hannah  and  Lincoln  met  for  the  last  time  at 
Havana  in  1858,  when  Lincoln  and  Douglas  were  touring 
the  state  making  political  speeches.  Douglas  had  just  fin- 
ished his  speech  when  a  steamboat  came  up  the  Illinois  river 
with  Lincoln  on  board.  Aunt  Hannah  had  come  to  town 
early  and  had  waited  all  day  to  see  Lincoln.  She  wore  a 
calico  dress,  red  shawl  and  a  sunbonnet,  and  was  wondering 
if  he  would  know  her  or  speak  to  her  since  he  had  become  a 
great  man.  The  boat  landed,  the  plank  was  run  out  and 
Lincoln  came  ashore.  He  saw  the  figure  in  the  red  shawl 
and  said :  "How  do  you  do,  Aunt  Hannah  ?  How  are  all 
the  folks?"  Aunt  Hannah  was  overjoyed  to  know  that  he 
had  not  forgotten  her. 

Jack  Armstrong  died  some  time  in  the  "fifties,"  leaving 


ioo  REMINISCENCES  OF  LINCOLN 

Aunt  Hannah  a  widow.  She  afterwards  married  Samuel 
Wilcox,  and  while  there  were  two  sets  of  children,  all  were 
well  cared  for.  She  had  a  hard  time  in  her  declining  years 
to  make  a  living  off  her  little  forty  acres  of  land,  but  she  was 
content  to  live  in  obscurity  though  her  name  had  become  al- 
most a  household  word  throughout  the  country.  She  died 
at  Winterset,  Iowa,  about  ten  years  ago  and  her  remains 
were  brought  back  to  Petersburg  for  burial. 

Women  of  Hannah  Armstrong's  make-up  are  found  in 
every  new  country.  Many  of  the  early  women  of  Menard 
county  possessed  the  characteristics  that  made  her  conspicu- 
ous among  her  companions. 


"DUFF  ARMSTRONG'S  STATEMENT " 

It  was  our  intention  to  interview  Duff  Armstrong  while 
he  lived  at  Easton  in  reference  to  the  above  case,  but  before 
we  could  do  so  he  moved  to  Pleasant  Plains.  We  noticed 
afterwards,  in  the  Globe  Democrat,  an  account  of  his  side  of 
the  case,  in  which  he  said  that  a  number  of  the  boys  were  at 
campmeeting  and  nearly  all  were  intoxicated.  There  had 
been  considerable  fighting  during  the  day,  and  he,  being 
tired,  lay  down  on  a  dry  goods  box  and  went  to  sleep. 
While  sleeping,  some  person  pulled  him  off  the  box,  he  ex- 
postulated with  the  person  and  laid  down  again.  When  the 
same  party  pulled  him  from  the  box  the  second  time  he  arose 
up  and  a  general  fight  commenced.  The  next  morning  he 
heard  that  Medscar  was  killed  in  the  fray  and  that  he  was 
accused  of  the  murder.  Thats  all  he  knew  about  the  affair. 
This  statement  is  so  different  from  what  the  witnesses  swore 
to  in  the  court,  that  we  give  it  for  what  it  is  worth. 


Peter  Cartright 

The  Backwoods  Preacher 


PETER  CARTRIGHT 

THE    BACKWOODS    PREACHER 


Cbe  Backwoods  Preacher 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

BIRTH  OF  CARTRIGHT 

T  WAS  my  good  fortune  to  be  well  acquainted 
with  Peter  Cartright,  and  this  acquaintance 
dates  as  far  back  as  I  can  recollect.  He  lived 
all  his  life  about  six  miles  southwest  of  Salem 
and  used  to  often  come  to  Salem  to  trade,  as  it  was  a  great 
deal  nearer  to  him  than  Springfield.  He  lived  on  the  same 
farm  and  was  well  fixed,  though  in  early  days ;  his  salary  for 
preaching  would  now  be  considered  very  small  for  the  work 
done.  He  was  a  man  of  great  force  of  character  and 
whether  as  preacher  or  politician,  generally  carried  his  point ; 
of  medium  height,  but  of  gigantic  build,  with  a  forehead 
covered  with  a  shaggy  coat  of  hair,  a  broad  chest,  and  small 
eyes  deeply  set,  heavy  eyebrows.  He  had  great  conversa- 
tional powers,  coupled  with  keen  wit.  He  could  interest  a. 
crowd  as  well  as  any  man  I  ever  knew.  ^ 

He  was  born  September  i,  1786,  in' Amherst  county, 
Virginia.  His  father  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary 
war,  and  moved  from  Virginia  to  Kentucky  in  an  early  day. 
Thousands  of  hostile  Indians  and  thousands  of  emigrants 
were  ruthlessly  murdered  while  on  their  way  to  Kentucky. 
Many  young  men  joined  the  emigrants  hoping  to  better  their 
condition  in  the  "Dark  and  Bloody  State."  There  were 


IO4  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

about  two  hundred  families  banded  together  for  mutual  pro- 
tection, another  hundred  young  men,  well  armed,  who  agreed 
to  guard  the  families  through,  and  as  compensation  were  to 
be  supported  for  their  services.  On  the  route  they  traveled 
they  often  saw  where  white  people  had  been  murdered  and 
scalped  by  the  Indians. 

His  conversion  was  as  marvelous  as  St.  Paul's,  and  we 
believe  he  had  a  great  mission  to  fill  in  the  world.  We  find 
young  Cartright  served  the  devil  with  all  his  might;  when 
his  face  turned  right  about  he  commenced  to  serve  the 
Lord  as  zealous  as  he  did  the  devil.  His  mission  was  to 
spread  scripture  holiness  in  the  form  of  Methodism,  which 
is  Christianity  in  earnest.  The  old  style  Methodist  preach- 
ers rode  large  circuits,  swam  rivers,  preached  every  day  in 
the  week,  rode  horse  back  and  carried  saddle  bags  with  books 
for  sale.  They  preached  as  if  the  devil  had  no  rights  that 
they  were  bound  to  respect,  never  apologized  for  their  at- 
tacks on  Satan's  kingdom.  They  sang  old  Methodist  songs 
like  this : 

A  Methodist  is  my  name 
And  I  hope  to  live  and  die  the  same, 
or, 

Oh,  whip  the  devil  around  the  stump 
And  hit  him  a  crack  at  every  jump. 

This  was  the  sentiment  if  not  just  the  words. 

He  was  a  wonderful  man,  just  suited  for  his  day  and 
generation,  there  never  was  but  one  Peter  Cartright,  there 
will  never  be  another;  the  world  needed  a  Cartright  and 
there  was  not  room  for  two. 

In  the  early  days  of  Methodism  the  preachers  had  to 
contend  with  the  ignorance  of  the  people.  A  few  incidents 
will  be  to  the  point.  Wilson  Lee  was  one  of  the  pioneer 
preachers.  At  one  of  his  appointments  at  a  private  house 
they  had  a  pet  lamb — the  boys  had  taught  it  to  butt.  They 
would  make  motions  with  their  heads  and  the  lamb  would 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  105 

back  and  come  at  them  with  all  its  might,  and  they  would 
jump  out  of  the  way  so  the  lamb  would  miss  them.  A  man 
came  to  the  meeting  who  had  been  drinking  and  frolicing 
the  night  before.  He  came  in  late  and  took  his  seat  near 
the  door  and  began  to  nod.  Presently  the  lamb  came  along 
and  seeing  the  man  nodding  and  bending  back  and  forth, 
took  it  as  a  banter,  sprang  forward  and  gave  the  sleeper  a 
severe  jolt  on  the  head  and  tilted  him  over  to  the  amusement 
of  the  congregation,  who  burst  into  laughter,  and  grave  as 
was  Bro.  Lee,  he  almost  lost  his  balance  and  laughed  with 
the  rest.  -He  went  on,  however,  with  his  sermon  and  urged 
them  to  take  up  their  cross. 

There  was  in  the  congregation  a  very  wicked  Dutchman 
and  his  wife,  who  were  very  ignorant.  The  woman  was  a 
common  scold  and  made  her  husband  very  unhappy  and  his 
life  miserable.  After  the  meeting  was  over  Bro.  Lee  started 
on  his  journey  and  saw  a  little  ahead  of  him  a  man  trudging 
along  carrying  a  woman  on  his  back.  He  naturally  sup- 
posed the  woman  to  be  a  cripple  so  she  could  not  walk.  The 
man  was  very  small,  while  the  woman  was  very  large.  When 
he  came  up,  who  should  it  be  but  the  Dutchman,  who  was 
at  his  meeting.  Mr.  Lee  rode  up  and  inquired  what  had 
happened  to  his  wife.  The  Dutchman  replied,  "Be  sure,  did 
not  you  toll  us  in  your  sermon  dot  we  must  take  up.der  cross 
and  follow  Jesus  or  dot  we  could  not  get  to  Heaven,  and  J 
dose  desire  to  get  to  Heaven  as  much  as  anybody,  and  dis 
wife  is  so  pad  she  scold  me  all  der  dime  and  dis  woman  is  der 
greatest  cross  I  have  in  dis  world,  and  so  I  takes  her  up  and 
bears  der  cross." 

In  those  exciting  times  a  new  exercise  broke  out  among 
the  people,  it  was  unlike  anything  that  had  been,  since  it 
lasted  about  forty  years  and  then  disappeared.  It  was  called 
the  "jerks"  and  was  overwhelming  upon  the  minds  and  body 
of  the  people.  No  matter  whether  they  were  saints  or  sin- 
ners they  would  be  taken  under  a  warm  song  or  sermon  and 


io6  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

seized  with  a  convulsive  jerking  all  over  and  the  more  they 
resisted  the  more  they  jerked.  If  they  would  not  strive 
against,  and  prayed  in  good  earnest,  the  jerking  would  usual- 
ly abate.  Cartright  says  that  he  has  seen  more  than  500 
persons  jerking  at  one  time  in  his  large  congregations.  Us- 
usally,  persons  taken  with  the  jerks,  to  get  relief  as  they  said, 
would  rise  up  and  dance,  some  would  try  to  run  away  but 
could  not,  some  would  resist,  and  on  such  the  jerks  were 
very  severe.  To  see  those  proud  young  gentlemen  and 
young  ladies  dressed  in  their  silks  and  jewelry  and  gew-gaws 
from  top  to  toe  take  the  jerks  would  often  excite  Cartright's 
risibilities.  The  first  jerk  or  so  you  would  see  those  fine 
bonnets,  caps  and  combs  fly  and  so  sudden  would  be  the 
jerking  of  the  head  that  their  long  loose  hair  would  crack  al- 
most as  loud  as  a  waggoners  whip. 

At  one  of  Cartright's  appointments  in  1804  a  very  large 
congregation  had  turned  out  to  hear  the  Kentucky  Boy,  as 
he  was  formally  called,  among  the  rest  were  two  finely 
dressed  and  fashionable  ladies  attended  by  their  two  broth- 
ers with  loaded  horsewhips.  Althought  the  house  was  large 
it  was  crowded.  The  two  ladies  coming  in  late  took  their 
seats  near  Cartright  and  their  brothers  near  the  door.  Cart- 
right  was  not  feeling  well  and  had  a  vile  of  peppermint  in  his 
pocket.  Before  he  commenced  preaching  he  took  out  the 
vial  and  swallowed  a  little  of  the  peppermint,  while  he  was 
preaching  the  congregation  melted  to  tears,  the  two  young 
men  moved  off  to  the  yard  fence  and  both  of  the  young 
ladies  took  the  jerks  and  were  greatly  mortified. 

As  Cartright  dismissed  the  meeting  a  man  stepped  up  to 
him  and  warned  him  to  be  on  his  guard  for  he  had  heard  the 
two  brothers  say  that  they  would  horsewhip  him  for  giving 
their  sisters  the  jerks.  "Well,"  said  Cartright,  "I'll  see 
about  that."  He  went  out  and  said  to  the  young  men,  "1 
understand  you  intend  to  horsewhip  me  for  giving  your  sis- 
ters the  jerks?"  One  replied  they  did.  Peter  undertook 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  107 

to  expostulate  with  them  on  the  absurdity  of  the  charge 
against  him,  but  they  swore  he  need  not  deny  it,  for  they 
had  seen  him  take  out  of  his  pocket  a  vial  in  which  he  carried 
some  truck  that  gave  their  sisters  the  jerks.  Quick  as  a 
thought  it  came  to  his  mind  how  he  could  get  clear  of  the 
whipping,  and  jerking  out  the  peppermint  vial  said :  "Yes, 
if  I  gave  your  sisters  the  jerks  I  will  give  them  to  you."  In 
a  moment  he  saw  they  were  scared.  Cartright  moved  to- 
ward them  and  they  backed,  as  Cartright  advanced  they 
wheeled  and  ran  warning  Cartright  not  to  come  near  them 
or  they  would  kill  him.  It  raised  the  laugh  on  them  and 
Cartright  escaped  the  whipping. 


JUDGE  OF  HUMAN  NATURE 

Cartright  was  a  fine  judge  of  human  nature,  he  could 
read  a  man's  character  by  the  time  he  got  acquainted  with 
him  hence  he  had  a  different  way  of  dealing  with  the  various 
characters  he  met  with.  There  was  one  way  he  had  with 
dealing  with  preachers  who  read  their  sermons,  he  believed 
that  if  God  called  a  man  to  preach  he  would  furnish  him  with 
something  to  say.  "Open  thy  mouth  and  I  will  fill  it,"  or 
"it  shall  be  given  you  that  how  and  what  you  shall  say." 

Fancy  John  Wesley  reading  one  of  his  sermons.  Fancy 
Christ  reading  his  sermon  on  the  mount.  Fancy  Peter 
preaching  his  pentacostal  argument  by  manuscript.  Fancy 
Felix  making  his  eloquent  argument  by  note.  Fancy  all  of 
the  witnesses  in  all  ages.  Fancy  presiding  elder  spending 
about  six  hours'  at  an  appointment  preaching  a  short  essay 
that  perhaps  was  borrowed  and  holding  two  quarterly  meet- 
ings in  a  week  leaving  home  Saturday  morning  and  getting 
back  Monday  evening  and  then  wanting  about  thirty  dollars 
for  the  work  that  was  worth  two  dollars  and  a  half,  and  then 
compare  their  work  with  Cartright's  that  would  make  the 
rounds  of  his  district  in  six  weeks.  Preaching  from  seven 


io8  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

to  ten  times  a  week  and  not  getting  on  an  average  a  dollar  a 
day.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  "power  has  left  the  church 
and  that  the  pastor  can  preach  the  whole  winter  and  his 
words  fall  like  water  on  a  duck's  back  without  leaving  any 
impression.  Another  common  amusement  of  the  present 
day  is  church  fairs,  church  entertainments,  where  the  church 
and  the  world  meet  on  a  common  level,  where  the  church 
lays  aside  her  ecclesiastical  toga  and  says  lay  there  till  1 
drink  in  this  feast  the  world  has  prepared  for  me.  In 
Cartright's  time  it  was  always  in  the  guise  of  a  dance.  How 
he  managed  one  of  these  gatherings  is  illustrated  by  the  fol- 
lowing anecdote. 


CARTRIGHT  AT  A  DANCE 

He  was  once  traveling  through  Kentucky  and  stopped  at 
a  country  tavern  and  asked  to  stay  all  night.  The  landlord 
told  him  he  could  but  he  was  afraid  he  could  not  enjoy  him- 
self as  there  was  to  be  a  dance  there  that  night.  Peter  asked 
how  far  it  was  to  the  next  house  and  was  told  it  was  seven 
miles.  Cartright  told  him  if  he  would  feed  his  horse  well 
and  treat  him  civilly  he  would  stay.  Being  assured  of  that 
he  dismounted  and  went  in.  The  people  came  in  large  com- 
panies. There  was  not  much  drinking  going  on. 

Peter  took  his  seat  in  one  corner  of  the  house  and  the 
dance  commenced.  He  sat  quietly  musing,  greatly  desiring 
to  preach  the  next  day.  After  concluding  to  spend  the 
Sabbath  there  he  asked  the  privilege  to  preach  there  on  the 
morrow.  A  tall  and  beautiful  young  lady  now  approached 
him  with  pleasant  winning  smiles,  asked  him  to  dance  with 
her.  He,  in  a  moment  resolved  on  a  desperate  experiment. 
He  rose  as  gracefully  as  he  could  with  many  emotions. 
The  young  lady  moved  to  his  right  side.  He  grasped  her 
right  hand  with  his  right,  while  she  leaned  her  left  arm  on 
Cartright's;  in  this  position  they  walked  on  the  floor,  the 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  109 

whole  company  seemed  pleased  at  this  act  of  politeness 
shown  the  stranger.  A  colored  man,  who  was  the  fiddler, 
began  to  put  his  fiddle  in  good  order. 

Cartright  then  spoke  to  the  fiddler  to  hold  on  a  moment 
and  said  that  for  several  years  he  had  not  undertaken  any 
matter  of  any  importance  without  asking  the  blessing  of 
God  upon  it  and  now  he  desired  to  ask  the  blessing  of  God 
upon  the  beautiful  young  lady  and  the  whole  company  who 
had  shown  such  acts  of  politeness  upon  a  perfect  stranger. 
He  here  grasped  the  young  lady's  hand  tightly  and  said, 
"let's  all  kneel  down  and  pray,"  and  then  dropping  on  his 
knees  commenced  to  pray  with  all  the  power  of  soul  and 
body  he  could  command.  The  young  lady  tried  to  get 
away,  but  he  held  her  tight ;  presently  she  fell  on  her  knees. 
Some  of  the  company  knelt,  some  looked  curious,  some  sat 
still,  the  colored  fiddler  ran  out  in  the  kitchen  saying,  "Lord, 
O  Massy,  what's  de  matter !  What  dat  mean  ?" 

While  Cartright  prayed  some  wept  aloud  and  some  cried 
for  mercy.  He  rose  from  his  knees  and  commenced  to  ex- 
hort, after  which  he  sang  a  hymn.  The  young  lady,  who 
had  invited  him  on  the  floor,  lay  prostrate  and  was  crying 
for  mercy.  He  exhorted,  sang  and  prayed  nearly  all  night. 
About  fifteen  professed  that  night.  The  meeting  lasted  the 
next  day  and  night  and  as  many  more  were  converted. 
Now,  this  condition  of  affairs  would  not  be  tolerated  in  some 
places.  A  man  with  such  a  bold  manner  of  combating,  the 
popular  sin  of  dance,  would  be  laughed  at  to  scorn  or  be 
mobbed  by  the  crowd  whose  designs  he  had  frustrated.  It 
was  in  politics  that  he  had  great  power  with  men.  Born  a 
Jackson  Democrat,  when  the  Whigs  and  Democrats,  both 
bowed  their  knee  to  slavery,  he  was  an  active  worker  in 
the  Democratic  party,  both  were  proslavery  alike.  Cartright 
was  elected  to  the  Legislature  twice  over  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Of  this  he  speaks  with  some  pride,  though  when  Lincoln 
beat  him  for  Congress  he  does  not  say  much  about  it.  We 


no  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

can  explain  this,  that  Cartright  generally  came  out  ahead  in 
everything  he  undertook.  It  was  his  victories  that  he  talked 
of,  not  his  defeats.  After  his  defeat  for  Congress,  he  sank 
out  of  the  political  horizon  and  did  not  appear  again  till 
treason's  dark  and  damning  cloud  appeared  to  darken  the 
horizon,  did  he  make  himself  appear  as  a  flaming  torch. 
He  canvassed  the  state  as  a  war  Democrat,  preaching  with 
the  people  to  stand  by  the  Government  and  Abraham  Lin- 
coln. 


A  FATAL  ACCIDENT 

While  Cartright  was  moving  to  Illinois  an  accident  oc- 
curred to  his  third  daughter  and  she  was  instantly  killed. 
His  wagon  was  overturned  and  came  near  killing  his  oldest 
daughter.  After  righting  up  the  wagon  they  concluded  to 
camp  for  the  night  on, the  spot,  as  they  were  very  tired. 
After  getting  things  righted  up  and  the  evening  being 
very  warm,  they  concluded  not  to  stretch  their  tent  for  the 
night,  so  a  fire  was  kindled  at  the  root  of  a  small  tree,  the 
tree  appeared  to  be  sound.  They  all  lay  down  and  slept 
soundly. 

Just  at  daybreak  the  tree,  at  the  root  of  which  they  had, 
kindled  the  fire,  fell,  and  it  fell  directly  on  his  third  daugh- 
ter, and  it  is  supposed  she  never  breathed  afterward.  Cart- 
right  heard  the  tree  when  it  started  to  fall  and  sprang  up  very 
much  alarmed  and  seized  the  tree  before  it  struck  the  child 
but  it  availed  nothing.  Although  it  was  an  awful  calamity, 
yet,  if  they  had  stretched  their  tent  that  night  the  way  the 
tree  fell,  it  would  have  killed  the  whole  family.  The  tree 
was  sound  on  the  outside  to  a  thickness  of  a  carving  knife, 
but  the  inside  had  dry  rot.  Cartright  sent  his  teamster  to 
those  living  near  by  for  aid,  but  not  a  soul  would  come  nigh. 
The  teamster  and  Cartright  went  to  cutting  the  tree  off  the 
child,  and  carefully  drew  the  child  out.  Cartright  laid  her 
in  the  feed  trough  and  moved  on  twenty  miles. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


ANECDOTES  OF  CARTRIGHT 

|E  WILL  be  pardoned  for  a  few  Cartright  anec- 
dotes.     The   Methodist   conference   was   being 
held  at   Nashville.     Jackson  was  then  in  the 
youth  of  his  power;  it  was  before  he  was  a 
"good  man."    Peter  was  to  preach  in  one  of  the  fashionable 
churches  in  Nashville  and  the  people  was  afraid  that  he 
would  say  somethng  that  would  offend  Jackson. 

So  he  had  announced  his  text;  just  then  Jackson  and 
his  suite  came  into  the  church  and  the  preacher  pulled  Peter's 
coat-tail  and  told  him  that  was  Gen.  Jackson.  Peter  stopped 
and  said  in  a  loud  voice,  "Gen.  Jackson;  who  is  Gen.  Jack- 
son; if  he  don't  repent  of  his  sins  and  be  a  better  man 
God  Almighty  will  damn  him  as  quick  as  a  Georgia  nigger." 
Peter's  friends  then  tried  to  get  him  to  leave  the  city  ar. 
once,  feeling  sure  that  Jackson  would  kill  him  on  sight  the 
next  morning,  but  Cartright  said  no;  that  he  was  taught 
to  love  everybody  and  fear  nobody.  The  next  morning, 
sure  enough,  one  of  Jackson's  aides  came  into  the  hotel  and 
handed  Cartright  a  note  to  call  at  the  Governor's  mansion 
at  once.  His  friends  expostulated  but  he  went.  Jackson 
met  him  on  the  sidewalk  and  extended  his  hand,  saying: 
"You  are  a  brave  man,  just  the  kind  of  a  man  I  have  been 
looking  for.  If  I  had  a  regiment  like  you  I  could  whip  the 
whole  British  Nation.  Now,"  said  Jackson,  "you  make  my 
house  your  home  as  long  as  you  stay  in  the  city."  This  in- 
cident only  illustrates  Peter's  character. 


H2  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

He  never  fained  or  fancied  greatness,  one  man  was  as 
good  as  another.  How  different  from  many  preachers  who 
bow  down  to  wealth  and  kiss  the  big  toe  of  rich  men,  while 
the  poor  are  too  often  neglected.  Cartright  may  at  times 
seemed  warlike,  too  much  like  a  boy  with  a  chip  on  his 
shoulder.  I  recall  the  times  he  preached  at  Rock  Creek 
campmeeting,  when  he  would  give  his  Cumberland  brethren 
a  jolt  in  final  perserverance,  and  with  a  merry  twinkle  of  his 
eye,  appeared  to  see  how  they  enjoyed  it.  He  was  as  bold 
as  a  lion  and  as  soft  as  a  cooing  dove.  There  was  none 
before  him  like  him,  there  was  none  in  his  time  like  him, 
and  none  after  him  like  him. 

It  has  often  been  thought  strange  that  Cartright  should 
have  dJ£d_worth  ^^o^og^when  he  spent  his  whole  life  travel- 
ing large  circuits,  with  only  a  small  salary.  His  estate  con- 
sisted of  a  large  farm,  which  he  bought  at  Congress  price, 
and  he  always  lived  on  it,  never  moved  from  one  district, 
to  another.  He  settled  on  his  farm  away  back  in  1830  and 
the  farm  got  to  be  quite  valuable.  It  was  situated  eight 
miles  southwest  of  Petersburg,  in  the  edge  of  Sangamon 
County,  but  we  always  considered  him  a  citizen  of  Menard, 
as  he  came  to  Salem  very  often. 

He  had  quite  a  family.  One  daughter  married  Wm. 
Newman,  who  was  a  presiding  elder;  another  married 
W.  D.  Trotter,  who  was  another  noted  preacher.  Another 
married  Patten  Harrison,  who  was  one  of  the  most  noted 
rowdies  of  his  day,  and  who  caused  Peter  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  in  his  day.  While  his  sons,  Peter  and  Matt,  were 
not  noted  for  the  piety,  but  the  farm  was  run  in  Peter's 
absence  in  good  order.  He  had  abotrt-^ee-aeres  and  always 
held  onto  it  and  had  a  good  home  where  he  could  rest 
from  his  long  circuits.  He  would  start  north  for  100  miles, 
then  cross  the  Illinois  River  to  Rock  River,  then  down  to 
Galesburg;  thence  to  Canton,  then  to  Pike  County,  cross  at 
Beardstown,  then  home  after  six  weeks'  absence. 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  113 

CARTRIGHT'S  APPEARANCE 

Cartright,  ever  since  I  knew  him,  always  wore  a  white 
hat  with  a  broad  rim.  It  must  have  been  a  brother  to  the 
one  Horace  Greele'  wore.  It  looked  like  the  hat  that  Mar- 
tin Waddle,  the  hatter,  in  Salem,  used  to  make ;  the  nap  and 
fur  on  it  were  a  half  inch  long.  I  have  often  seen  him 
come  to  Salem,  and  I  knew  him  by  his  hat  if  nothing  else; 
the  hat  he  wore  in  the  "thirties,"  might  not  have  been  the  hat 
he  wore  in  the  seventies,  but  it  was  the  same  kind  and  was 
made  on  the  same  block. 

In  personal  appearance  Cartright  resembled  Dick 
Oglesby  more  than  any  other  man  I  can  think  of.  I  knew 
both  men,  in  their  time  they  both  had  the  same  kind  of 
voices,  and  both,  in  ther  declining  years,  had  the  same 
tremulous  voice.  The  last  time  I  saw  Cartright  was  in 
1868,  when  he  stayed  at  my  house  for  five  days;  the  last 
time  I  saw  Governor  Oglesby  was  at  the  Old  Salem  Chautau- 
qua  in  1898;  they  had  both  outlived  their  days  and  genera- 
tion, but  people  hung  on  their  words  with  great  reverence, 
as  Oglesby  was  a  power  in  the  political  world,  so  Cartright 
was  a  power  in  the  religious  world ;  nobody  doubted  the 
courage  of  Oglesby.  He  carried  enough  lead  in  his  body 
to  vindicate  that  and  at  the  Salem  Chautauqua,  from  his 
feeble  voice,  his  unsteady  step,  most  of  the  audience  were 
conscious  that  they  would  hear  his  voice  no  more.  When 
Cartright  left  my  house  in  1868,  I  said  to  my  wife  we  will 
see  Uncle  Peter  no  more,  it  was  his  last  round.  He  had 
fought  a  good  fight  and  kept  the  faith  and  henceforth  a 
crown  was  laid  up  for  him. 

A  few  years  after  the  death  of  Peter  Cartright,  the  final 
summons  came  to  Mrs.  Cartright,  whose  activity  of  body 
and  mind  continued  to  the  last.  This  happened  just  as  she: 
had  finished  speaking  at  a  Methodist  love  feast  in  the 
Pleasant  Plains  church.  Her  closing:  sentence  was  about 


H4  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

her  life  duties  being  so  near  finished;  that  she  was  "Only 
waiting  for  the  chariot  of  the  Lord,"  she  sank  back  suddenly 
to  her  seat.  Willing  hands  were  reached  to  her  assistance; 
she  did  not  need  them.  The  "Everlasting  arms"  had  taken 
her  spirit  home.  Rev.  Harden  Wallace,  who  had  charge  of 
the  meeting  broke  silence  by  saying:  "The  chariot  has 
come."  It  had.  She  was  buried  beside  her  husband  in  the 
Pleasant  Plains  Cemetery. 

Samuel  Hill,  the  Salem  merchant,  was  not  a  man  of 
much  physical  strength  himself,  but  was  in  the  habit  of 
taking  some  delight  in  whipping  any  person  that  might  be 
offensive  to  him.  It  was  he  that  hired  John  Fergesson  to 
whip  Jack  Armstrong,  and  for  the  job  was  to  give  a  set 
of  blue  edged  plates.  John  got  the  plates,  but  said  it  was 
the  dearest  set  of  plates  he  ever  had.  It  was  when  Cart- 
right  was  at  his  best  that  Hill  conceived  a  dislike  for  him, 
but  no  bully  ever  took  the  job  of  whipping  him  from  Hill. 
Cartright  appeared  to  take  great  pleasure  in  coming  and 
sitting  under  Hill's  porch  and  annoying  him.  He  would 
come  and  sit  for  hours  and  laugh  and  talk  about  Hill,  while 
Hill  stayed  indoors.  He  was  describing  one  day  to  a  crowd 
how  he  viewed  Hill's  soul.  He  said  he  had  some  doubts 
whether  he  had  a  soul  till  one  day  he.  put  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  on  Hill's  lips,  when  his  soul  came  guggling  up  to  get 
the  piece  of  silver. 


CHAPTER  X. 


RIDING  HIS  CIRCUIT 

N  THE  pioneer  days  there  were  no  roads,  the 
prairie  grass  was  as  high  as  a  man's  head,  and 
paths  were  the  only  guides  the  pioneers  had. 
Cartright  would  travel  all  day  without  passing 
a  cabin  of  the  hardy  pioneers.  It  was  easy  to  travel  through 
the  timber,  but  the  prairies  were  not  then  settled.  When 
he  would  come  to  the  edge  of  the  timber  the  cabins  would 
end.  Then  he  would  strike  across  the  prairie  from  one  point 
of  timber,  and  would  have  to  go  by  the  sun  or  some  other 
natural  course.  Sometimes  night  would  overtake  him  and 
he  would  camp  out.  Think  of  that,  ye  ministers  of  these 
latter  days,  who  ride  in  pomp  and  splendor  in  palace  cars 
and  get  four  times  as  much  for  doing  half  the  pioneer 
preachers  did! 

They  had  these  routes  through  the  timber  belts  marked 
by  blazing.  They  would  take  a  line  of  trees  in  a  row,  and 
with  an  axe  scalp  the  bark  on  the  right  side  about  four  feet 
from  the  ground,  so  that  a  traveler  could  always  have  a 
half  dozen  scalped  trees  ahead  of  him.  So  Cartright  traveled 
by  paths  through  the  prairies  from  point  to  point  and 
through  the  timber  by  scalped  trees,  not  meeting  a  fellow 
traveler  from  ten  to  twenty  miles.  During  those  miles  of 
solitude  he  had  time  to  think  up  a  good  sermon,  for  it  is 
when  alone  that  the  best  thoughts  of  man  come  to  him — 
there  being  nothing  from  the  outside  world  to  distract  his 
thoughts.  One  reason  why  he  performed  so  much  work 


n6  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

was  his  strong  and  hardy  frame;  for  it  is  a  fact  that  a 
strong  and  vigorous  frame  produces  strong  and  vigorous 
thought;  a  short  face,  narrow  between  the  eyes,  indicate 
a  narrow  mind  and  feeble  thoughts.  Give  me  a  preacher 
like  Cartright  —  one  of  vigorous  frame  and  intellect.  Cart- 
right  wore  a  7%  hat.  It  was  only  a  hat  made  by  the  home 
hatters,  and  weighed  double  that  of  the  hats  made  now. 
The  body  of  his  hats  were  always  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
thick,  with  a  rim  five  inches  wide,  the  crown  eight  inches 
high,  and  the  nap  one-half  inch  long,  heavily  lined  with  silk. 
The  hat  he  wore  when  I  first  knew  him  I  think  lasted  him 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years. 

He  was  nothing  if  not  friendly;  no  man  or  boy  escaped 
his  attention.  Full  of  wit  and  good  humor,  he  could  enter- 
tain a  crowd  of  one  or  one  hundred.  When  jie_thougiitLhe 
was  right  no  earthly  power  __mnlH  _-pprsTTa.de  C.a.r\r\ght  to 
abandon  a  principle.  Htfwas  Jjke_Henry  Clay;  he  would 


which  will  illustrate  this:  On  a  certain  occasion  he  met  an 
interesting  family,  the  father  of  which  was  a  drunkard. 
The  family  joined  the  church  and  the  old  man  was  also 
friendly.  They  met  one  time  at  a  store.  The  drinking  man 
called  for  cherry  bounce.  He  sweetened  it  for  Cartright, 
out  of  pure  love  for  him,  and  invited  the  preacher  to  drink 
with  him.  Cartright  refused,  and  told  the  man  that  he  had 
given  up  the  practice.  The  man  then  told  Cartright  that 
if  he  did  not  drink  with  him  he  would  be  no  friend  of  his  or 
of  his  family,  and  that  he  would  never  go  to  hear  him 
preach  again.  Peter  told  him  that  it  was  all  in  vain  to 
urge  him,  that  his  principles  were  fixed  and  that  he  would 
not  violate  them  for  man  or  mortal.  The  man  then  flew 
into  a  rage  and  cursed  and  abused  him.  Peter  walked  off 
and  left  the  man  in  his  glory.  He  never  forgave  Cartright, 
made  his  family  leave  the  church  and  lived  and  died  a 
drunkard. 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  117 

CARTRIGHT  GETS  A  LITTLE  BOOZY 

Brothers  Walker  and  Cartright  were  out  once  together. 
They  started  early  in  the  morning,  traveled  twenty-five  miles 
and  arrived  at  Knoxville  about  noon.  They  rode  to  a 
tavern,  but  finding  a  great,  noisy,  drunken  crowd,  Cartright 
said  to  Walker :  "This  is  a  poor  place  for  weary  travelers.; 
we  will  not  stop  here.".  They  rode  on  to  another  tavern, 
but  it  was  still  worse,  for  the  people  were  drunk  and  a  real 
bully  fight  was  going  on.  Cartright  proposed  to  Walker 
that  they  go  on  where  they  could  find  some  private  entertain- 
ment where  it  would  be  quite.  So  they  went  on.  Present- 
ly they  came  to  a  house  with  a  sign  over  the  door  of  "Private 
Entertainment  and  New  Cider."  Cartright  said :  "Here  is 
the  place ;  if  we  can  get  some  good  light  bread  and  new  cider 
that's  dinner  enough  for  me."  Walker  said  that  was  exactly 
what  he  wanted.  They  accordingly  halted  and  an  old  man 
came  out.  Peter  inquired  if  they  could  have  their  horses 
fed,  and  obtain  some  new  light  bread  and  some  new  cider. 
"Alight,"  said  the  landlord,  "for  I  suspect  you  are  two 
Methodist  preachers  and  have  been  to  Baltimore  to  the  con- 
ference." They  replied  they  had.  The  horses  were  then 
well  fed,  and  a  loaf  of  good  light  bread  and  a  pitcher  of  new 
cider  was  set  before  them.  The  landlord  was  an  Otterbean 
Methodist.  His  wife  was  sick  and  she  sent  for  the  preachers 
to  come  and  pray  for  her.  They  did  $0,  and  then  returned  to 
eat'their  bread  and  drink  their  cider.  The  weather  was  very 
warm,  and  soon  they  were  laying  in  the  bread  and  cider  at 
a  rapid  rate.  It  seemed  to  Cartright,  however,  that  it  was 
not  only  new  cider,  but  something  more,  and  he  began  to 
rein  up  his  appetite.  Walker  laid  in  liberally,  and  at  length 
Cartright  said  to  him,  "You  had  better  stop,  for  this  is 
surely  something  more  than  cider."  "I  reckon  not,"  replied 
Walker. 

Cartright  was  not  in  the  habit  of  using  spirits  at  all. 


u8  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

He  knew  that  very  little  would  floor  him,  and  presently  he 
began  to  feel  light  headed.  He  instantly  ordered  their 
horses,  fearing  that,  for  once,  both  himself  and  Walker 
would  get  a  little  boozy.  They  then  mounted  their  horses 
and  started  on  their  journey.  When  they  had  ridden  about 
a  mile  Cartright  rode  up  to  Walker  and  cried  out,  "Wake 
up !  Wake  up !"  Walker  roused  up,  his  eyes  watering 
freely.  Cartright  then  said,  "I  believe  we  are  both  drunk. 
Let  us  turn  out  of  the  road,  and  lie  down,  and  take  a  nap 
till  we  both  get  sober.'"  But  they  rode  on,  not  drunk,  but 
they  felt  it  flying  to  their  heads.  I  have  thought  it  proper 
to  mention  this  in  order  that  others  might  be  put  on  their 
guard. 


CAPACITY  FOR  WORK 

Cartright  accomplished  a  wonderful  amount  of  work 
during  his  ministry— more  than  any  of  our  modern  presid- 
ing elders  of  the  present  day,  while  his  salary  was  scarcely 
$100  a  year,  and  more  often  less  than  more.  He  always 
contended  for  the  Methodist  usuages — the  campmeetings, 
class '  meetings,  prayer  meetings  and  love  feasts.  When 
Methodism  began  to  throw  off  these  meetings  the  church 
was  shorn  of  its  strength  and  was  a  Sampson  in  the  hands 
of  Deliah.  In  these  early  days  its  members  always  looked 
forward  to  a  quarterly  meeting  with  delight  as  a  season  of 
refreshing  from  the  Lord.  But  how  is  it  now  ?  It  is  rather 
dreaded.  The  elder  comes  and  reads  a  sermon  that  he  prob- 
ably borrowed  from  Talmage,  or  if  he  didn't,  it  would  have 
been  better  if  he  had,  for  the  congregation  would  have  had 
a  better  one.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon  then  comes  the 
tug  of  war;  the  preacher  announces  that  it  is  necessary  to 
raise  about  $15  for  the  elder,  and  when  the  congregation 
seems  to  have  its  mind  in  a  suitable  frame  to  take  the 
sacrament,  the  struggle  for  the  $15  begins.  How  many 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  119 

$i  men,  the  preacher  asks,  are  in  the  house.  After  that, 
how  many  500.  men,  and  then  how  many  250.  men.  If 
it  still  lacks  a  little  the  steward  will  wait  on  the  congrega- 
tion and  gather  up  the  fragments,  that  nothing  may  be  lost, 
says  the  preacher,  and  the  result  is  that  it  requires  all  the 
talent  the  preacher  in  charge  has  to  raise  the  elder's  claim, 
well  knowing  that  his  next  appointment  depends  on  his 
ability  to  raise  money  for  the  elder's  one  sermon,  while  the 
early  father  spent  about  a  week  for  one- fourth  of  what  he 
got.  I  speak  this  not  in  a  spirit  of  criticism  or  fault-finding, 
but  as  a  real  fact  that  exists.  Cartright  appeared  to  have 
the  spirit  of  prophecy  and  to  see  in  the  future  what  has 
come  to  pass.  The  church  has  lost  its  power.  The  bishops 
have  sounded  the  alarm — "the  church  lost  thousands  of 
members  last  year."  What  is  to  be  done?  Let  a  voice 
from  the  grave  of  Cartright  answer :  "Return  to  the  old 
paths,  do  thy  first  work  over,  lest  thy  candle  stick  be  re- 
moved out  of  its  place."  The  Methodist  church,  in  its 
primitive  state,  was  the  gospel  to  the  poor.  In  all  of  our 
large  cities  the  poor  have  to  take  a  back  seat  in  the  church. 
"Do  thy  first  works  over."  Pardon  this  digression.  The 
only  apology  we  make  for  this  style  is  that  we  feel  like  it, 
and,  like  Carrie  Nation,  only  do  it  because  those  in  authority 
refused  to  speak  out. 

When  Cartright  first  started  out  as  a  preacher,  a  single 
man  was  allowed  to  receive  $80  a  year,  if  his  circuit  could 
raise  that  much,  but  he  seldom  received  over  $30  or  $40, 
and  this,  with  a  few  presents  and  wedding  fees,  was  all  he 
got.  He  traveled  eleven  circuits. and  twelve  districts;  re- 
ceived on  probation  and  by  letter  10,000;  children  bap- 
tized, 8,000;  adults,  4,000;  funerals  preached,  500.  For 
twenty  years  of  his  ministry  he  preached,  as  often  as  400 
times,  which  would  make  8,000  sermons.  Nor  did  he 
have  his  sermons  written.  In  the  last  thirty-three  years  of 
his  life  he  averaged  four  sermons  a  week,  making  in  thru 


I2O 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 


time,  6,600;  total,  14,600.  He  was  a  great  man  for  camp- 
meetings  and  prayer  meetings.  He  was  converted  at  a  camp- 
meeting,  and  in  his  early  ministry  lived  in  a  tented  grove 
from  two  to  three  months  in  a  year.  He  said :  "May  the 
day  be  eternally  distant  when  camp-meetings,  class  meet- 
ings, prayer  meetings  and  love  feasts  shall  be  laid  aside  in 
the  Methodist  churches." 

Cartright  was  never  afraid  to  rebuke  spiritual  wicked- 
ness in  high  places,  as  the  following  instance  will  illustrate : 
While  a  member  of  the  Legislature  he  was  invited  to  take 
supper  with  the  Governor.  They  sat  down  to  the  table,  and 
the  Governor  was  going  to  pass  the  dishes  when  Cartright 
said:  "Hold  on,  Governor,  ask  a  blessing."  The  Gov- 
ernor blushed,  stammered  and  excused  himself,  and  then 
asked  Cartright  to  ask  the  blessing.  The  preacher  did  so. 
and  then  gave  the  Governor  a  lecture  about  a  man  of  his 
high  position  eating  without  offering  thanks  to  the  Giver  of 
the  supper.  No  doubt  the  Governor  never  sat  down  to  a 
meal  after  that  without  thinking  of  the  rebuke. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


THE  BAPTISTS 

HE  Baptist  church  played  an  important  part 
in  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  people  of  Menarcl 
County  in  its  early  days.  The  Hardshells  were 
perhaps  the  most  numerous  back  in  1840. 
They  often  had  preaching  at  my  father's  house  in  Salem, 
because  it  was  the  largest  house  in  the  village.  John 
Antle,  who  lived  at  Salisbury,  and  who  was  the  father 
of  the  late  Dr.  Francis  P.  Antle,  was  a  fair  preacher, 
though  he  had  an  ah-h-h  at  the  end  of  every  sentence. 
Then  there  was  Crow  and  Bagby,  who  could  not  preach 
without  the  holy  tone  and  who  like  Whangdoodle  thought 
it  better  to  have  a  hardshell  than  no  shell  at  all. 

The  Hardshells  were  opposed  to  the  more  progressive 
sentiments  of  the  other  sects.  An  incident  will  serve  to 
illustrate:  At  a  meeting  in  the  Baptist  Church  near  Felix 
Green's,  where  everything  was  done  by  the  church,  Bro. 
Green  was  turned  out  of  the  church  for  having  joined  Dr. 
Allen's  temperance  society.  At  the  same  meeting  Bro. 

A was  charged  with  being  drunk,  and  was  also  turned 

out.     Bro.  P ,  who  was  loaded  for  bear,  got  up  and, 

steadying  himself,  pulled  out  a  flask  and  shook  it  till  H 
beaded,  and  said :  "Brethering,  it  seems  to  me  that  you  are 
not  sistenent,  (consistent)  because  you  have  turned  out  one 
man  for  taking  the  pledge  and  another  for  getting  drunk. 
Now,  brethering,  how  much  of  this  critter  have  I  got  to  drink 
to  have  good  standing  among  you?" 


122  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

Another  portion  of  the  early  Baptist  Church  was  repre- 
sented by  Tilford  Clark,  who  was  a  fine  preacher  and  con- 
ducted revivial  meetings  in  the  school  houses  and  private 
residences. 

In  1842  Abraham  Bale  came  from  Kentucky  and  created 
a  commotion.  He  was  considered  a  great  preacher.  Tall, 
well  formed,  with  a  powerful  constitution  and  a  voice  like 
a  lion,  he  could  wake  the  natives  for  a  half  mile  'round. 
He  held  wonderful  revivals  all  over  the  country  and  bap- 
tized converts  in  the  River  Sangamon,  even  as  John  the 
Baptist  did  in  the  River  Jordan.  I  have  seen  him  administer 
baptism  to  fifty  at  a  time,  just  below  Salem  mill.  A  couple 
of  men  or  women  would  get  the  converts  ready  and  pass 
them  to  Bale,  who  would  soon  have  them  put  under  the 
water  in  good  style,  while  the  rowdies  above  would  throw 
in  dogs  and  logs  and  otherwise  disturb  the  proceedings,  and 
when  going  to  and  from  the  river  would  run  their  horses 
and  whoop  and  yell  like  Indians.  At  one  of  his  baptizings, 
just  as  he  was  about  to  lead  a  sister  out  into  the  water,  her 
husband,  who  was  watching  the  ceremonies,  cried  out : 
"Hold  on,  Bale !  Hold  on,  Bale !  Don't  you  'dround'  her ! 
I  wouldn't  take  the  best  cow  and  calf  in  Menard  County  for 
her!" 

Bale's  star  outshone  every  other  star  for  a  few  years 
and  then  he  moved  away.  His  brother,  Jacob  Bale,  tried 
his  hand  at  preaching  for  a  time  but  did  not  make  much  of 
a  success  at  it. 

"Pres"  Curry  has  sounded  the  gospel  trumpet  in  Menard 
County  for  nearly  sixty  years  and  has -probably  baptized 
more  people,  preached  more  funerals  and  married  more 
couples  than  any  other  man.  "Pres"  does  not  take  to  any 
so-called  improvements  in  theology.  He  thinks  the  Bible 
should  be  interpreted  as  it  reads;  hence  his  sermons  are  of 
the  doctrinal  sort,  and  he  never  considers  a  sermon  com- 
plete unless  he  has  the  Baptist  mode  of  baptism  somewhere 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  123 

in  it.    He  is  an  earnest  preacher,  and  still  thinks  the  old  time 
theology  the  best. 

The  Baptist  Church  in  Menard  County  has  filled  its 
mission  well  and  among  the  churches  in  Petersburg  the  one 
on  Main  street,  south  of  the  court  house,  has  done  as  much 
to  better  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  people  as  any  other. 


THE  CAMPBELLITES 

In  early  days  it  was  no  stigma  to  call  this  division  of 
the  army  of  the  Lord  Campbellites.  They  were  the  fol- 
lowers of  Alexander  Campbell  and  were  not  ashamed  of 
their  parentage.  Now,  we  believe,  they  prefer  to  call  them- 
selves Christians,  which  is  not  objected  to,  unless  they  lay 
claim  to  being  the  only  church  that  is  entitled  to  the  name. 
In  early  days  it  was  said  that  the  Campbellites  and  the 
doer- fennel  took  the  town  every  fall ;  that  is,  the  church  had 
a  revival  about  the  time  the  dog-fennel  crop  ripened.  Some 
worthy  evangelist  would  come  along  and  'after  a  few  days' 
preaching  would  increase  fifty  to  a  hundred  and  go  on  his 
way  rejoicing.  I  remember  Aaron  White  as  a  zealous  ad- 
vocate of  the  doctrines  of  this  church.  He  always  carried 
his  Testament  with  him,  with  marked  passages  of  scripture, 
ready  to  defend  his  faith: 

At  Sugar  Grove  William  Engle  was  a  preacher  belong- 
ing to  this  church.  He  was  a  short,  heavy-set  man/ of  good 
speech,  and  never  let  any  man  get  ahead  of  him  in  an  argu- 
ment. All  old  settlers  remember  "Bill.''  Engle.  He  was  a 
jolly  story  teller.  I  heard  him  and  "Fog"  Atchison  telling 
in  Petersburg  which  had  the  fattest  sheep.  Engle  said : 
"I  tell  you,  Mr.  Atchison,  I  have  the  fattest  sheep.  An  ox 
hooked  one  the  other  day  and  we  rendered  it  up.  It  was  all 
tallow  and  its  tail  made  a  tallow  candle."  He  got  the  laugh 
on  Atchison. 


124  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

The  Christian  Church  has  many  schools  and  colleges. 
One  at  Eureka  turns  out  many  young  men  well  educated. 
The  church  has  taken  advanced  ground  on  the  temperance 
question  and  most  of  its  preachers  and  members  are  prohibi- 
tionists. 


THE  PRESBYTERIANS 

Dr.  Allen's  coming  to  Petersburg  in  1840  was  the  be- 
ginning of  that  church.  For  a  time  the  meetings  were  held 
in  the  old  court  house,  an  old  building  in  which  Septimus 
Levering  kept  store  at  an  early  day.  It  was  in  the  middle 
of  the  block,  three  blocks  south  of  the  public  square  and  on 
the  west  side  of  the  street.  Jim  Taylor  kept  store  on  the 
south  corner  of  the  block  and  the  Hoeys  on  the  north  cor- 
ner. After  a  while  a  small  church  was  built  north  of  where 
Rule's  livery  stable  now  stands,  where  other  denominations 
also  held  meetings  when  it  was  not  occupied  by  the  Presby- 
terians. A  preacher  by  the  name  of  Gault  held  meetings 
there  for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  a  good  preacher, 
but,  Presbyterian  like,  read  his  sermons,  which  lessened  "their 
effect.  William  Cowgill,  the  Frackeltons,  Dr.  Allen  and  a 
few  others  represented  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
"forties."  A  large  and  substantial  brick  church  was  erected 
one  block  west  of  the  square  later  on.  The  old  church  is 
now  occupied  by  S.  B.  Bryant  as  a  paint  shop. 


METHODIST  CHURCH 

A  representative  man  in  the  early  history  of  the  Method- 
ist Church  in  Petersburg,  was  Rev.  George  Barrett,  a  young 
man,  full  of  vigor  and  very  popular.  The  old  settlers  re- 
member his  eccentricities.  He  would  read  his  text  and  if 
anything  engaged  his  attention  he  would  make  a  remark 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  125 

and  go  ahead.  In  reading  his  text  one  morning  he  said : 
"  'And  the  Lord  said  unto  Moses' — Bob  Davidson  you  be 
still !"  Then  he  went  ahead  and  finished  his  text.  Barrett 
was  a  good  feeder.  One  year  his  circuit  took  in  Pecan 
Bottom,  where  the  natives  lived  on  pumpkins,  cooked  in 
various  styles — stewed  pumpkin,  dried  pumpkin,  pumpkin 
pie,  etc.,  etc.  Barrett  got  tired  of  this  kind  of  provender 
and  one  morning  he  thought  he  would  tell  the  Lord  about 
it ;  so  he  prayed :  "Oh,  Lord,  we  thank  thee  for  the 
genial  sunshine  that  causes  the  corn  to  grow,  to  fatten  the 
the  hogs  for  meat  to  eat,  that  thy  servant  may  have  strength 
to  fit  him  for  the  arduous  duties  that  lie  before  him.  And 
now,  Lord,  may  it  please  thee  to  blast  the  pumpkin  crop,  for 
we  cannot  perform  our  work  on  such  diet."  After  that 
Barrett  got  all  the  meat  he  wanted. 

Barrett  died  about  ten  years  ago  in  Morgan  County. 
He  made  a  trip  to  Europe  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life. 
Crowds  of  beggars  beset  him  in  his  travels.  He  finally  dis- 
covered that  if  he  took  his  store  teeth  out  of  his  mouth  he 
could  scare  the  beggars  by  running  after  them  wth  his  teeth 
in  his  hand.  He  was  not  annoyed  any  more  by  beggars. 


OLD-FASHIONED  CAMP -MEETINGS 

In  the  early  days  of  Menard  County  (then  a  part  of 
Sangamon)  there  were  no  churches  and  the  religious  meet- 
ings were  held  in  the  little  school  houses  or  in  private  resi- 
dences. Once  a  year  camp-meetings  would  be  held.  The 
Cumberland  Presbyterians  appeared  to  lead.  There  were 
three  large  congregations  of  that  denomination  within  the 
bounds  of  Menard  County  from  1830  to  1845.  At  Con- 
cord, north  of  Petersburg,  where  one  of  these  camp-meet- 
ings was  held  annually,  a  large  shed  was  built  under  which 
the  preachers  held  forth.  The  Pantiers,  the  Rutledges  and 


126  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

the  Berrys  were  the  prominent  campers.  My  father  would 
move  to  the  grounds  on  a  Thursday  afternoon.  Camps 
would  be  built  around  the  shed,  and  by  Sunday  the  grounds 
would  present  the  appearance  of  a  small  village. 

Back  of  the  camps  the  women  would  do  the  cooking. 
Two  big  logs  would  be  put  close  together  with  an  upright 
forked  pole  at  each  end.  Across  these  forks  another  pole 
would  be  laid,  on  which  were  hung  the  pots  and  kettles  in 
which  meats  and  vegetables  would  cook  while  the  meeting 
was  going  on. 

A  great  drawback  and  an  endless  source  of  annoyance 
was  the  great  number  of  dogs  round  the  camp.  Each  man 
had  from  one  to  a  dozen,  and  it  kept  the  women  busy  trying 
to  prevent  the  hungry  canines  from  getting  into  the  dinner. 
I  remember  one  camp-meeting  when  James  Berry  had  a 
dozen  hounds  there  and  it  looked  as  though  they  would 
break  up  the  meeting.  I  appointed  myself  a  committee  on 
dogs.  The  grounds  were  covered  with  a  growth  of  walnut 
trees.  A  green  walnut,  applied  with  sufficient  force  against 
the  side  of  a  hound,  would  make  him  yelp  for  several  seconds 
and  the  sound  would  travel  down  the  ravine  the  echo  would 
reverberate  back  again. 

The  preachers  got  onto  the  dog  racket  and  determined 
to  stop  it.  I  had  been  pelting  the  dogs  one  afternoon  and 
was  watching  as  wrell  as  praying.  Just  after  I  had  taken  a 
good  lick  at  one,  Guthrie  White  ran  up  behind  me,  turned 
me  around  and  when  he  saw  who  I  .was,  exclaimed  in  aston- 
ishment: "Why,  it's  one  of  Bro.  Onstot's  boys!"  "Now," 
said  I,  "I'm  trying  to  protect  these  women's  cooking  from 
these  hounds,  and  if  Jim  Berry  don't  want  'em  hurt,  let  him 
keep  'em  at  home,"  Guthrie  saw  the  point  and  I  continued 
in  the  discharge  of  my  duties  as  dog  pelter. 

It  was  the  custom  at  those  meetings  to  feed  everybody 
that  came  and  this  made  very  slavish  work  for  the  women. 

There  was  good  singing.    The  preacher  would  read  the 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  127 

hymn  in  a  loud  voice  and  then  would  "line"  it  and  every- 
body would  sing.  Music  boxes  hadn't  been  invented  then. 
The  preacher  didn't  ask  any  of  the  brethern  to  "pitch  and 
carry  the  tune." 

Old  Sammy  Berry  and  James  Pantier  were  the  oldest  of 
the  members.  Berry  must  have  been  over  seventy  and  could 
talk  and  shout.  He  was  of  a  serious  turn  of  mind  and 
seldom  laughed  or  even  smiled.  He  was  a  brother  of  Rev. 
J.  M.  Berry,  of  Rock  Creek.  Pantier  was  very  eccentric. 
He  would  sit  in  front  of  the  preacher  and  repeat  his  sermon 
as  fast  as  the  preacher  preached  it.  Sometimes  he  would 
get  ahead  and  sometimes  approve  what  the  preacher  said; 
again,  he  would  shake  a  finger  at  the  preacher  and  say  in 
a  low  tone,  "you  are  mistaken,"  or  "that  is  not  so,  brother." 
He  was  a  faith  doctor  and  could  cure  the  bite  of  a  snake  or 
of  a  mad  dog.  He  would  take  the  patient  into  a  room  and 
rub  the  wound  and  mumble  some  hocus-pocus  and  the 
patient  would  get  well. 

There  was  sound  preaching  in  those  days.  The  preachers 
preached  hell  and  damnation  more  than  they  do  now.  They 
could  hold  a  sinner  over  the  pit  of  fire  and  brimstone  till 
he  could  see  himself  hanging  by  a  slender  thread,  and  he 
would  surrender  and  accept  the  gospel  that  was  offered  to 
him. 

There  were  a  good  many  rowdies  around  Concord  at 
that  time.  They  would  get  steam  up  on  whisky  and  go  to 
the  camp  meeting  to  raise  a  row.  I  have  seen  some  of  these 
sinners  get  under  conviction  and  start  to  run,  and  fall  down 
and  lie  for  hours  before  they  were  converted.  Nowadays 
a  church  will  just  vote  a  sinner  into  the  kingdom,  or  just 
have  him  hold  up  his  hand,  then  publish  "a  great  revival." 

At  Lebanon  the  camp-meeting  was  similar  to  that  at 
Concord.  Old  Robert  White,  and  the  Rayburns,  the  Kin- 
caids,  the  Williamses  and  other  were  always  in  attendance. 
I  believe  this  was  the  oldest  camp-meeting  ground  in  the 


128  THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER 

county.  Neal  Johnson  was  a  pioneer  preacher  in  that  sec- 
tion before  I  was  born.  He  was  a  man  of  large  stature  and 
wac  accounted  a  great  preacher.  My  father  was  converted 
under  his  ministry,  before  he  moved  to  Salem,  some  time 
before  the  winter  of  the  deep  snow. 

The  Old  Salem  Chautauqua  reminded  me  more  of  an 
old-fashioned  camp-meeting  than  any  gathering  I  have  seen 
in  late  years,  except  that  at  the  camp-meetings  they  had 
prayers  at  all  the  tents  at  sunrise.  The  voice  of  song  arose 
from  the  tents  and  then  some  lusty  old  brother  with  a  voice 
like  a  foghorn  would  wake  up  the  natives  by  giving  God 
advice  and  directions  how  to  run  this  world  of  ours. 


PETER  CARTRIGHTS  TOMB 

In  less  than  two  years  after  the  death  of  Peter  Cartright 
it  was  reported  by  some  enterprising  papers  that  his  estate 
was  insolvent  and  his  wife  left  in  destitution.  B.  F.  Irwin, 
of  Pleasant  Plains,  replied  through  the  Springfield  papers 
that  Mrs.  Cartright  had  been  amply  provided  for  in  the 
will  of  Dr.  Cartright,  and  that  the  probate  records  of  San- 
gamon  County  showed  his  estate  to  be  worth  $50,000. 

Several  weeks  since,  a  newspaper  item  went  the  rounds 
saying  that  Peter  Cartright  and  his  wife  were  buried  in  a 
private  graveyard  and  their  graves  were  unmarked  and 
greatly  neglected  and  overgrown.  This  item  got  into  the 
Illinois  papers  quite  generally.  This  was  followed  by 
various  comments  calling  for  "Organizing  a  society  to  erect 
a  monument  over  the  grave  of  Peter  Cartright,"  etc.,  etc. 
Of  course,  as  there  are  not  yet  enough  little  local  societies 
to  give  everybody  a  "treasurership"  or  "presidency,"  this 
was  a  "taking"  call  for  a  new  one,  and  efforts  to  organize 
began  in  some  places. 


THE  BACKWOODS  PREACHER  129 

But  Mr.  Epler,  who  is  president  of  the  Pleasant  Plains 
Cemetery,  started  a  denial  of  this  story  in  the  Journal  of 
Springfield,  saying  the  graves  of  Peter  Cartright  and  wife 
were  marked  by  an  appropriate  stone  in  the  above  cemetery, 
that  their  graves  were  not  in  a  private  burying  place,  and 
that  the  cemetery  was  "one  of  the  best  kept  up  ones  in  the 
state." 

The  facts  are,  further,  that  at  the  time  of  the  death  of 
Mrs.  Cartright  there  was  about  $3,000  left  of  the  Dr.  Cart- 
right  estate,  to  be  divided  among  the  heirs.  And  about  the 
"unmarked  grave,"  the  facts  are  that  two  years  before  Dr. 
Cartright's  death  he  had  a  $600  double  monument  erected 
for  himself  and  wife  in  the  Pleasant  Plains  cemetery.  The 
inscription  in  full  for  both,  except  the  date  of  death,  was 
placed  on  the  stone  as  written  by  Peter  Cartright.  He  had 
carved  on  his  monument  the  first  text  he  ever  used,  as  fol- 
lows :  "Trust  ye  in  the  Lord  forever,  for  the  Lord  Jehovah 
is  everlasting  strength." 

There  is  such  a  peculiar  unfitness  of  associating  the 
names  of  Peter  Cartrigh't  and  his  wife  with  a  call  for  post 
mortem  charity,  that  no  one  who  knew  either  of  them  and 
their  thrift  and  fore-thought  would  be  liable  to  be  deceived. 


lUcnard  County 


CHAPTER  XII. 

N  THE  early  settlement  of  Menard  County  there 
were  natural  divisons  that  preserved  their  iden- 
tity. East  of  the  Sangamon  River  there  were 
New  Market,  Lebanon  and  Athens ;  west  of  the 
river  was  "Wolf  County,"  which  was  bounded  on  the  north 
t>y  Rock  Creek,  on  the  west  by  the  Springfield  road,  on  the 
south  by  Purkapile  branch,  and  on  the  east  by  the  river.  In 
this  territory  lived  a  population  from  Kentucky.  There 
was  Case  Pemberton,  the  horse  trader;  it  was  as  good  as 
going  to  a  circus  to  go  past  his  house  in  trading  season. 
Horses  by  the  dozen  could  be  seen,  awaiting  their  turn  for 
•a  "swap."  He  lived  there  many  years,  then  moved  to 
Mason  County,  and  finally  to  California,  where,  if  yet  living, 
1  have  no  doubt  he  is  still  trading  horses.  Jack  Pemberton, 
a  brother  of  Case,  was  constable  for  a  long  time.  After- 
wards he  moved  to  Mason  County  and  died  near  Forest 
City  many  years  ago. 

There  was  Isaac  Schmick,  who  cleared  £>ff  a  farm  in 
the  center  of  Wolf,  when  he  could  have  got  a  good  farm 
in  the  .prairie  without  clearing  it.  He  had  a  large  ox  team 
and  a  plow  with  a  wooden  mould-board  that  could  turn 
•over  just  what  the  yokes  on  the  oxen  could  bend  over. 

There  were  the  Tibbses,  the  Wisemans,  the  Duncans, 
the  Hohimers,  the  Hornbuckles,  and  others  whose  names 
sixty  years  of  time  have  obliterated  from  my  memory, 
though  it  is  good. 


132  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

These  were  the  original  settlers.  They  were  a  kind 
people  and  would  divide  their  corncake  with  a  friend.  They 
were  fond  of  the  shooting  match  and  the  "muster"  which 
was  held  once  a  year ;  and  at  a  house-raising  or  any  gather- 
ing the  Wolverines  were  always  on  hand.  They  would 
come  to  Petersburg  in  good  humor,  but  after  filling  up  on 
whisky  were  ready  for  a  racket  among  themselves,  though 
preferably  with  outsiders.  "George,  you  have  torn  my 
shirt,"  said  little  John  Wiseman  to  Greasy  George  Miller. 
"Yes,"  said  George,  "and  I  can  tear  your  hide,  too!"  A 
ring  would  form  at  once  and  twenty  men  would  stop  to  see 
fair  play.  The  men  would  pound  each  other  till  one  would 
cry  "enough,"  and  that  would  settle  the  matter  of  the  torn 
shirt. 


At  Clary's  Grove  and  Little  Grove  were  the  Gums,  the 
Watkinses,  the  Dowells,  the  Arnolds,  the  Bonds  and  the 
Kirbys.  They  would  come  to  Petersburg  on  a  Saturday 
afternoon,  twenty-five  or  more  in  a  body,  "strapping  big" 
fellows,  bare-footed  and  riding  their  three-year-old  colts 
barebacked.  On  they  would  come  with  a  dash,  single  file, 
whooping  and  yelling,  "Jess"  Kirby  in  the  lead.  A  band 
of  Comanche  Indians  could  not  give  the  warwhoop  more 
lustily  than  "Jess"  and  his  gang.  After  riding  around 
the  court  house  square  several  times  they  would  face  up  in 
front  of  a  saloon  and  get  their  breath ;  then  one  of  the  crowd 
would  challenge  the  world  in  saying  that  his  "hoss"  could 
beat  any  other  "hoss"  that  ever  made  a  track  in  the  'Burg 
for  $10.  This  was  a  bluff.  They  had  no  intention  of  run- 
ning. Then  they  would  tie  their  horses  to  the  hitchracks 
and  do  their  trading,  which  consisted  mainly  in  getting 
something  to  drink  or  a  plug  of  "terbacker." 

About  this  time  the  boys  from  the  north  would  begin 
to  arrive.  The  Clarys  were  in  the  majority.  Bill  Jones  and 
Royal  Armstrong  had  a  lot  of  boys  and  in  a  short  time  they 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  133 

would  arrange  a  wrestle  or  a  jumping  match,  or  some 
amusement  that  required  an  exhibition  of  physical  .strength. 
Or,  perhaps,  they  would  match  a  horse  race  to  come  off  the 
next  Saturday  on  Joe  Watkins'  track.  The  bets  rarely  ex- 
ceeded ten  dollars. 

The  next  thing  in  order  was  to  go  in  swimming  at 
the  old  Elm  tree,  which  was  a  short  distance  above  the 
bridge.  There  was  almost  any  depth  of  water  there,  and 
the  boys  would  take  their  three-year-old  colts  in  the  river 
to  break  them.  A  horse  is  at  disadvantage  when  in  water 
over  his  depth.  The  boys  would  take  one  in,  several  of 
them  would  get  on  his  back,  others  would  cling  to  his 
mane  and  some  to  his  tail,  and  by  the  time  they  let  him  come 
out  thev  -could  do  almost  anything  with  him.  This  sport 
would  last  a  couple  of  hours  and  then,  back  to  town.  Every 
man  to  his  horse,  and  after  galloping  around  the  square 
"Jess"  Kirby  would  strike  for  Tanyard  Hollow  with  a 
warwhoop  and  a  yell,  and  the  Grove  boys  were  gone  until 
the  next  Saturday.  The  Wolf  and  Sandridge  boys  were 
not  under  such  good  control  and  went  home  as  they  pleased. 

I  often  wonder  what  kind  of  men  these  pioneer  boys 
made.  Have  their  lives  been  spent  in  dissipation,  or  have 
they  made  men  of  honor  and  integrity,  whose  children  rise 
up  to  call  them  blessed?  Many  of  them  I  have  never  met 
since  boyhood,  when  we  were  all  reckless.  Some  of  them, 
I  know,  have  been  among  Menard's  honored  and  respected 
citizens. 


Family  feuds  were  common  in  the  early  days.  Over 
some  imaginary  wrong  or  insult  one  family  would  become 
arrayed  against  another  family  and  it  required  only  a  spark 
to  kindle  a  flame.  I  recollect  two  families,  one  by  the  name 

of  C—  — ,  the  other  by  the  name  of  W -,  who  had  for 

years  been  nagging  each  other.     One  day  in  the  "thirties/ 
at  Salem,  the  quarrel  was  renewed.     W—    -  said :     "Let's 


134  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

go  across  the  river  and  settle  it,  once  and  forever;  and  let 
no  person  go  across  with  us."  C agreed  to  the  proposi- 
tion. The  crowd  went  to  the  river  and  not  a  man  was 
allowed  to  go  over  with  the  combatants.  They  stripped  and 
fought  like  beasts  till  both  were  down ;  then  those  who  were 
on  the  Salem  side  of  the  river  thought  they  should  be  parted, 
so  they  went  over  and  made  them  shake  hands,  and  they 

were  friends  from  that  time.    W never  saw  a  well  day 

afterwards  and  died  in  a  year  or  so  as  the  result  of  injuries 
received  in  the  encounter.  This  incident  is  given  to  show 
the  kind  of  civilization  that  was  predominant  in  those  days, 
though  many  of  the  old  citizens  never  had  to  contend  with 
its  barbaric  customs.  Only  those  who  trained  in  that  class 
were  subject  to  its  conditions. 

As  Governor  Palmer  said  at  Old  Salem  Chautauqua. 
last  August,  the  horserace,  the  gander  pulling  and  the  shoot- 
ing match  had  to  give  way  to  the  Chautauqua.  In  coming 
years,  when  the  old  citizens  of  Menard  shall  annually  as- 
semble on  these  consecrated  grounds  with  their  children 
and  their  children's  children,  they  will  have  cause  to  bless 
the  new  order  of  things. 


STORIES  OF  PIOI^EER  DAYS 

In  December,  1830,  it  commenced  snowing  and  it  snowed 
till  the  middle  of  February,  1831.  It  is  remembered  by 
all  the  old  settlers  as  "the  winter  of  the  deep  snow."  It 
created  great  hardship  all  over  the  country.  People  were 
not  prepared  for  it.  The  feed  was  out  in  the  fields;  the 
stock  did  not  have  sheds  to  protect  them;  the  roads  were 
impassable;  the  tops  of  the  corn  shocks  could  just  be  seen. 

We  lived  in  the  west  part  of  Salem  before  we  moved 
into  the  hotel.  My  father  had  a  team  of  horses  and  a 
cow  and  had  a  few  acres  of  corn  on  Thomas  Watkins' 
farm,  a  mile  west  of  Salem.  The  roads  were  covered  from 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  135 

four  to  six  feet  deep  with  snow  with  a  hard  crust  on  top 
that  would  let  a  horse  down  through,  though  a  man  could 
walk  on  top.  Father  would  start  out  in  the  morning  and 
be  gone  all  day  and  dig  out  enough  corn  fodder  to  feed 
two  days.  It  snowed__eyery  da_y  for  two  rnontlis  and  the 
track  that  was  broken  one  day  would  be  filled  the  next. 

Every  person  now  living  who  was  born  before  that 
winter  is  called  a  "Snow  Bird."  I  was  born  just  before 
and  have  my  snow  bird  badge  which  was  given  me  at 
the  Old  Settlers'  meeting  at  Sugar  Grove  four  years  ago. 
I  prize  it  very  highly  and  would  not  trade  it  for  a  hundred 
wild  turkeys  running  at  large  in  Oregon. 

I  don't  recollect  the  deep  snow,  yet  I  have  heard  it  talked 
about  so  much  that  I  sometimes  think  I  saw  it. 

.  There  was  very  little  traveling  in  those  days.  It  was 
all  the  snow  birds  could  do  to  stay  at  home.  There  was 
not  much  to  travel  for.  The  farmers  had  their  bread  and 
meat  at  home.  If  they  ran  out  of  meal  they  had  their 
hominy  mortars  at  home  and  could  soon  make  some  coarse 
meal.  They  had  salted  down  their  pork  that  was  fattened 
on  acorns.  They  did  not  take  a  daily  paper  as  we  do  now. 
I  doubt  if  there  was  a  daily  paper  taken  within  the  bounds 
of  Menard  county.  Indeed,  I  doubt  if  there  was  a  daily 
paper  printed  in  the  state. 

But  it  kept  on  snowing  until  the  snow  birds  began  to 
wonder  if  it  was  going  to  snow  all  summer.  In  February 
it  began  to  thaw  and  the  waters  raised  till  they  measured 
higher  than  they  ever  had  before  or  since  the  days  of  Noah's 
flood. 

The  country  then  was  full  of  deer,  wild  turkeys  and 
prairie  chickens.  The  snow  would  not  hold  up  the  deer; 
their  sharp  hoofs  would  cut  through  and  they  would  sink 
down,  while  the  wolves  could  travel  on  the  snow  and  de- 
vour the  deer.  The  deer  finally  got  so  thin  that  the  wolves 
could  find  nothing  but  hide  and  bones  to  pick.  That  winter 
nearly  cleaned  the  deer  out.  The  other  game  did  not  fare 
so  badly. 


136  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

THE  COLD  DAY  IN  J837 

Things  ran  along  smoothly  after  the  deep  snow  till 
December,  1837.  This  day  I  recollect  as  well  as  if  it  was 
yesterday.  It  had  been  a  warm,  drizzly  day.  My  father 
had  cut  a  tree  in  the  back  part  of  the  yard  and  us  kids  were 
carrying  the  wood  to  the  house.  There  was  nothing  in  air 
or  sky  that  showed  signs  of  an  approaching  storm,  when, 
quick  as  a  flash,  an  awful  cold  wave  swept  over  the  earth 
at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles  an  hour.  It  came  on  without 
any  warning.  The  mercury  fell  100  degrees  in  less  than 
five  minutes.  Hundreds  of  people  all  over  the  state  were 
caught  out  and  unless  near  some  house  were  stricken  down. 
Their  clothes  that  were  wet  froze  so  stiff  that  they  were 
unable  to  walk.  It  was  the  time  of  year  when  hogs  were 
being  driven  to  Beardstown  to  be  slaughtered  and  sold. 
Several  droves  from  Menard  county  were  on  the  way  and 
part  of  them  were  frozen  on  the  prairies,  and  the  men 
driving  them  had  to  seek  refuge  in  the  nearest  farm  house. 
There  was  no  telegraph  in  those  days  and  the  number  of 
people  that  were  frozen  to  death  will  never  be  known. 

This  cold  day  formed  another  cycle  and  things  were 
dated  before  and  after  the  cold  day  in  1837. 


Granny  Spears,  who  officiated  at  more  than  half  the 
births  within  a  radius  of  a  dozen  miles  of  Clary's  Grove, 
always  rode  horseback.  She  had  been  captured  by  the 
Indians  in  her  girlhood  and  spent  several  years  with  them 
before  she  was  rescued.  She  learned  many  of  their  cures 
for  diseases.  She  had  good  success  in  doctoring  children 
and  had  many  remedies.  Some  of  the  old  settlers  will  doubt- 
less remember  Granny  Spears'  salve  and  other  medicines. 
She  followed  her  calling  till  over  90  years  of  age.  I  recol- 
lect her  as  a  little  old  woman  whose  chin  and  nose  came 
nearly  together.  She  was  the  mother  of  George  Spears 
and  was  a  very  useful  woman. 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY  137 

In  the  "forties"  there  were  in  Menard  county  two  old 
soldiers  who  had  fought  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  One 
was  Daddy  Boger,  who  lived  in  Wolf  county.  He  was  a 
small  man  and  made  baskets.  People  would  buy  his  baskets 
to  help  him.  I  don't  know  whether  he  got  a  pension  or  not. 
He  would  come  to  Petersburg  every  Saturday.  He  always 
carried  a  bushel  basket  on  each  arm — baskets  made  of  good 
white  oak  splits.  He  would  sell  his  baskets  as  soon  as  he 
got  in  town,  then  do  some  trading  and  after  resting  awhile 
would  start  home.  The  other  soldier,  who  lived  north  of  \ 
Petersburg,  was  old  man  Short,  the  father  of  James  Short.  ' 
He  was  a  good  turkey  hunter.  Wild  turkeys  were  very 
plentiful  in  the  Sangamon  bottom.  About  a  half  mile  east 
of  his  house  he  had  a  pen  built  of  logs  and  covered  with 
brush,  in  which  there  was  corn,  and  when  the  turkeys  would 
come  close  enough  he  would  fire  into  them.  One  evening 
James  Short  went  down  after  him  and  found  him  with  his 
leg  broken  and  sixteen  turkeys  dead.  The  old  man  was  so 
excited  that  he  forgot  and  his  gun  kicked  him  over  and  broke 
his  leg.  There  were  about  fifty  turkeys  and  they  had  come 
within  fifty  feet  of  him.  Just  as  they  discovered  him  and 
raised  their  heads  he  took  them  in  the  neck. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  GREEN  FAMILY 

LD  BILLY  GREEN,"  as  he  was  called  in  the 
"thirties,"  was  perhaps  one  of  the  oldest  set- 
tlers. He  lived  about  a  mile  south  and  a  mile 
west  of  Salem.  A  half  mile  north  of  his  house 
was  a  large  branch  that  flowed  all  the  year  around.  It 
was  called  the  "Purkapile  branch."  A  mile  farther  on  and 
it  emptied  into  the  Sangamon.  A  mile  above  Salem  Mills, 
north  of  the  branch,  the  woods  were  filled  with  a  growth 
of  timber  from  eight  to  ten  inches  in  diameter.  A  little 
to  the  north  and  forty  rods  east  stood  the  Baptist  Church. 
It  must  have  been  built  some  time  in  1820.  It  was  used 
also  for  a  schoolhouse.  Here  is  where  I  went  to  school 
for  five  years;  Uncle  Menter  Graham  was  the  teacher. 
Most  of  the  time  he  lived  in  a  brick  house  a  half  mile  north. 
On  the  south  of  the  branch  the  soil  and  timber  was  entirely 
different;  the  soil  was  black  and  covered  with  a  growth  of 
sagetree,  with  some  large  red  oak,  ash  and  elm,  with  no 
under  brush.  The  ground  was  covered  with  a  fine  coat  of 
grass  a.nd  as  the  road  from  the  branch  to  old  Billy's  was 
up  an  incline  for  a  half  mile  I  used  to  think  it  was  like  Para- 
dise, especially  in  sugar  making  time,  with  hundreds  of 
sugar  troughs  catching  the  sap,  and  the  Green  boys — rGaines 
and  Jim — with  a  sled  and  one  horse  gathering  up  the  sugar 
water  to  be  boiled.  And  there  the  large  apple  trees  that 
nearly  hid  the  house  always  attracted  attention.  They 
must  have  been  set  out  in  an  early  day  and  always  bore 
a  fair  crop  of  large  red  apples,  and  they  were  all  good  eat- 
ing apples,  if  I  can  testify.  Here  lived  Uncle  Billy  Green 
and  his  wife,  Lizzie.  Here  he  raised  a  large  family.  Uncle 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  139 

Billy  was  a  quiet  man  that  never  had  any  difficulty  with 
his  neighbors.  Gaines  and  Jim  generally  done  the  trad- 
ing with  the  neighbors.  They  had  a  large  amount  of  wood- 
land, of  trees  of  the  first  growth.  No  woodman's  axe 
had  ever  cleft  the  forest.  About  once  a  year  in  August 
a  storm  would  pass  through  and  leave  an  immense  amount 
of  limbs  broken  off,  so  Gaines  and  Jim  would  sell  it  to 
the  Salemites.  Aunt  Lizzie  Green  was  a  woman  who- 
made  her  mark  in  the  community.  I  recollect  her  as  a 
very  zealous  church-worker.  The  Baptist  Church,  north 
of  the  branch,  was  for  many  years  the  religious  center 
of  the  community;  it  fact,  th,e  hardshells  were  the  most 
numerous  of  any  denomination.  Among  their  preachers  I 
remember  Crow,  Bagley,  Fosters  and  Centre.  One  of 
their  sacraments,  which  has  now  gone  out  of  use,  was  the 
washing  of  feet.  Christ  said,  "I  have  washed  your  feet,  ye 
ought  also  to  wash  one  another's  feet,"  and  while  we  are  no 
theologian  and  never  made  it  a  study,  we  would  like  for 
Brother  Curry  or  some  other  sticker  for  ancient  customs  to 
inform  the  community  when  foot  washing  was  abolished. 
At  the  monthly  meetings  we  have  seen  the  brethern  and 
sisters  sit  on  a  long  bench  and  remove  their  shoes  and 
socks,  and  one  brother  with  a  basin  of  water  would  wash 
their  feet,  (and  would  remark  that  some  of  their  feet 
needed  washing)  ;  and  then  Lizzie,  with  a  towel,  would 
follow  up  and  wipe  them.  This  was  all  done  in  good  order. 
Again  we  ask  Brother  Curry  to  inform  us  why  feet  are  not 
washed  now.  As  we  said,  Green  raised  a  large  family. 
There  was  Felix,  who  lived  just  west  of  the  Baptist  Church; 
he  was  a  man  of  some  force.  We  recollect  Felix  coming 
one  time  to  the  schoolhouse  to  settle  a  little  scrap  with  Cousin 
Menter,  and  came  out  second  best.  Felix  Green  also  had  a 
large  family.  His  oldest  daughter,  Polly,  married  Alex 
Pemberton.  His  son,  Beaurope,  it  will  be  remembered,  was 
hung  on  a  black  jack  tree  in  Forest  City  twenty-five  years 
ago  by  a  mob.  There  had  been  some  horse  stealing  and 


14°  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

Beaurope  Pemberton  was  implicated.  Most  all  the  actors 
in  that  mob  have  passed  in  their  checks.  Felix  Green  had 
a  son,  Evans,  who  was  a  rather  fast  young  man.  I  will 
deal  mostly  with  the  first  generation  of  the  Greens.  There 
was  "Slicky  Bill"  Green,  as  he  was  familiarly  called,  who 
was  perhaps  the  best  known  of  any  of  the  Greens.  He  got 
an  education  at  Jacksonville  college,  went  south  after  he  left 
Salem,  but  came  back  and  in  1852  lived  less  than  a  mile 
from  Forest  City.  When  I  moved  on  the  prairie  I  worked 
for  him  some  in  that  early  day.  He  often  gave  me  good 
advice  how  to  get  along  in  the  world.  I  once  cut  his 
meadow  on  the  halves  with  a  scythe. 

There  was  Nancy  Cox,  who  died  in  Manito  about  forty 
years  ago,  and  Frankie  Armstrong,  who  lived  near  the  old 
Green  homestead,  the  mother  of  a  number  of  sons  and 
daughters.  There  was  Nult  Green,  who  married  Nancy 
Able.  They  lived  in  an  early  day  adjoining  Forest  City. 
They  had  a  boy  Johnny  Green,  who  was  as  small  as  Tom 
Thumb,  and  for  years  exhibited  him  on  the  road.  Johnny 
was  smart  and  a  great  favorite  with  the  people.  There  was 
Robert  Green,  who  I  think  moved  to  Texas.  Next  was 
Gaines,  a  prominent  farmer  of  Mason  county,  who  died 
a  few  years  ago.  He  married  one  of  Joe  Watkins'  daugh- 
ters, and  was  one  of  Menard's  most  respected  citizens. 
James  Green  went  to  Texas  in  an  early  day.  Sallie  Green 
had  one  hand  that  was  palsied.  She  married  Jerry  Twom- 
bly,  a  Yankee,  who  lived  just  west  of  Frankie  Armstrong, 
and  Mary  married  William  Centre,  and  may  be  living  yet. 

Menard  county  is  settled  up  by  families  I  used  to  know. 
One  family  has  increased  till  there  is  now  a  dozen  families 
of  the  same  kinship.  They  keep  multiplying  and  the  surplus 
find  homes  in  western  territories.  Their  farms  descend  from 
father  and  son.  In  Mason  county  it  is  very  different. 
The  land  does  not  descend  to  the  same  family  when  death 
or  removal  makes  it  necessary  to  divide  up  a  homestead. 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  141 

Some  German,  who  by  thrift  and  economy,  has  saved  up 
his  money,  is  a  competitor  for  the  land  and  the  rightful 
owner  of  the  soil  goes  west. 


A  PIONEER  GONE 

We  learn  by  the  daily  papers  that  William  Green  died 
at  his  home  in  Tullula  last  Sunday.  As  we  haxe  known 
him  for  sixty  years,  we  may  be  pardoned  for  a  few  recol- 
lections. We  remember  him  first  as  a  young  man  when 
Salem  was  in  the  height  of  its  glory.  His  father  lived  one 
mile  west  of  that  historic  town,  and  had  a  large  family — 
mostly  boys.  William  was  the  second  son  and  never  worked 
on  the  farm,  but  took  a  course  at  Illinois  college,  Jack- 
sonville. We  recollect  him  at  Salem  as  connected  with 
the  immortal  Lincoln.  He  always  had  a  tact  and  talent 
for  making  money — what  the  world  terms  shrewdness. 
From  Salem  he  went  to  Tennessee,  where  he  lived  a  num- 
ber of  years  and  married.  He  returned  to  Illinois,  and  in 
1848  settled  where  William  Neikirk  now  lives  and  built 
the  house  that  now  stands  there.  He  was  the  money  king 
of  this  county,  and  any  man  who  needed  money  could 
always  be  accommodated,  though  the  rate  was  often  5 
per  cent  a  month.  He  told  us  that  he  scarcely  ever  lost  a 
debt,  and  that  the  man  would  always  find  him  on  hand 
early  in  the  morning.  He  was  identified  with  early  religious 
organizations  in  this  section,  and  when  the  first  Sunday 
school  was  organized  here,  at  a  private  house,  Mr.  Green, 
by  his  presence  and  financial  aid,  helped  the  good  work 
along.  Born  and  raised  a  Democrat,  he  voted  that  ticket 
until  the  beginning  of  the  war  when  his  personal  friendship 
for  Lincoln  made  him  an  ardent  Republican ;  and  during  the 
war  he  was  one  of  the  President's  trusted  advisors.  As  a 
business  man  he  was  strict  and  exacting;  as  a  neighbor  he 
was  kind  and  accommodating,  as  all  the  early  settlers  here 
will  testify.  He  died  at  the  ripe  age  of  over  four  score 
years. 


142  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

THE  WATKINS  FAMILY 

Away  back  in  the  "twenties,"  before  I  was  born,  the 
Watkins  families  settled  in  what  is  now  Menard  county. 
There  were  several  families  of  them.  Tom  and  Joe, 
"brothers,  deserve  more  than  ordinary  mention. 

Tom  Watkins  settled  west  about  half  way  between 
Salem  and  Petersburg.  He  owned  a  large  tract  of  land  be- 
tween Mentor  Graham's  and  the  Pollard  farm,  on  the  north. 
He  was  tall  and  as  straight  as  an  Indian.  He  built  a  large 
"brick  house  in  a  beautiful  grove  of  trees,  where  he  raised 
a  large  family.  His  eldest  son,  Joe,  was  a  frequent  visitor 
in  Salem  in  the  tfarly  days,  but  became  dissipated  and  died 
while  young.  He  was  never  married  and  went  the  way  of 
Bill  Berry  and  others  of  his  time.  During  my  first  school- 
ing at  the  old  Baptist  Church,  near  Felix  Green's,  Joe 
Watkins  still  came  to  school. 

Henry  Bale  married  Scynthia  Watkins,  John  Ritter 
having  married  the  eldest  of  the  Watkins  family.  John 
Warefield  married  Sally,  and  Tom,  who  died  this  spring, 
married  a  Goldsby.  I  saw  Tom  every  day  at  the  Old  Salem 
Chautauqua  last  fall,  with  his  wife.  He  appeared  to  be 
proud  of  her,  and  one  day  he  said  to  me :  "Onstot,  I'll 
give  $10  in  gold  to  any  man  on  this  ground  that  can  show 
a  prettier  woman  than  my  Mary,  who  has  lived  with  me 
for  50  years,"  and  nobody  took  Tom  up. 

McLain,  who  has  been  a  cripple  for  sixty  years,  still 
resides  near  Petersburg,  and  Bent,  the  youngest,  died  sev- 
eral years  ago.  So  Tom  Watkins  had  quite  a  family. 

One  of  his  peculiar  occupations  was  dealing  in  race 
"horses.  He  had  a  breed  of  small  horses  that  could  run  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  like  a  streak  of  lightning.  He  had  a 
track  west  of  his  house,  where  he  trained  the  horses,  and 
a  high  spot  about  half  way  gave  him  a  good  view.  On  any 
fair  day  Watkins  would  have  his  horses  on  the  track  to 
run,  while  he  watched  their  manoeuvres.  I  think  he  did  all 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  143 

this  for  his  own  gratification,  as  I  don't  recollect  of  his 
running1  for  money  with  other  sporting  men. 

Tom  Watkins  always  had  money  to  loan  at  10  per  cent 
interest,  the  lawful  interest  of  that  day.  The  last  time  I 
was  at  his  house  was  when  the  Chicago  &  Alton  was  in  the 
course  of  building.  He  was  much  excited  about  them  cut- 
ting the  right-of-way  through  his  timber.  "Just  ruining 
all  my  timber,"  said  he,  "cutting  down  all  my  young  wal- 
nuts." He  had  enough  timber  to  have  supplied  him  1,000 
years  and  rails  only  $i  a  hundred. 

Joe  Watkins,  his  brother,  lived  on  the  edge  of  Little 
Grove.  There  was  no  resemblance  in  their  looks.  While 
Torn  was  tall  and  slim,  Joe  was  a  very  heavy  man.  He 
would  weigh  300  pounds.  You  could  always  find  him 
sitting  on  his  porch  in  pleasant  weather.  He  was  king 
among  the  dwellers  of  Little  Grove.  He  kept  a  race  track 
known  as  "Old  Joe's  Track,"  and  many  a  dollar  has  been 
lost  and  won  on  that  track,  and  many  a  hard  fought  battle 
after  the  race  was  over.  I  recollect  Bill  Jones  undertook  to 
whip  Gaines  Green  after  a  race,  and  came  out  second  best. 

Joe  Watkins,  while  not  so  well  off  as  his  brother,  Torn, 
was  "well  heeled."  Joe  had  two  boys,  Bill  and  Beve.  They 
married  Elizabeth  and  Sarah  Armstrong,  daughters  of  Hugh 
Armstrong.  These  boys  had  the  same  chance  as  other  boys 
to  get  a  common  school  education,  but  neglected  to  improve 
the  opportunity.  I  made  out  a  check  for  Beve  about  thirty 
years  ago.  He  had  bought  $1,100  worth  of  stock  near  For- 
est City,  and  asked  me  to  write  the  check  and  sign  his 
name.  I  was  surprised,  and  asked  him  if  he  could  not 
write.  He  said,  "No,  I  never  learned  when  I  had  a  chance." 

Jo'e  Watkins,  like  his  brother,  Tom,  raised  a  large  family, 
and  did  his  part  in  multiplying  and  replenishing  the  earth. 
They  were  good  pioneers,  and  done  much  in  developing 
the  county.  The  future  historian  will  give  the  Watkins 
family  due  credit. 


144  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

Old  Johnny  Watkins,  who  lived  on  the  line  between 
Clary's  and  Little  Grove,  was  a  forty-second  cousin  of  the 
other  Watkins  families.  I  remember  him  as  a  jolly  old 
man,  and  a  great  story  teller.  My  father  used  to  buy  a 
dozen  trees  of  him  in  the  spring  for  stave  timber,  and  then 
cut  them  and  peal  the  tan  bark  and  sell  it  for  enough  to 
pay  for  the  trees. 

I  remember  Uncle  Johnny  had  a  madstone,  and  could 
cure  mad-dog  bites.  The  stone  was  not  much  bigger  than 
a  dollar,  and  he  kept  it  in  milk  to  soak  all  the  poison  out. 
If  a  person  had  been  bitten  the  stone  would  cling  tight  to  the 
wound  till  it  was  full  of  poison  and  then  drop  off,  when  it 
was  soaked  in  the  milk  again  and  this  repeated  until  the 
poison  was  drawn  out.  The  stone  was  given  to  Uncle 
Johnny  by  a  friend  in  Pennsylvania  when  he  started  for 
Illinois,  and  kept  getting  smaller.  It  was  also  good  for 
snake  bites,  though  most  people  now  use  whisky  instead, 
not  realizing  that  whisky  has  bitten  thousands  to  one  it 
ever  cured. 

There  was  another  Watkins  family,  cousins  of  Tom  and 
Joe.  We  will  speak  of  Sam  as  a  representative  man. 

Sam  lived  the  latter  part  of  his  life  near  Oakford.  He 
has  been  dead  for  ten  years.  His  personal  appearance  was 
striking,  a  well  built  man,  rather  heavy.  He  wore  a  slouch 
hat  and  a  red  flannel  shirt  with  the  front  opened,  disclosing 
a  hairy  bosom.  He  was  given  to  running  horses,  too,  as  all 
the  Watkins  were.  Sam  was  always  on  the  lookout  for 
victims,  and  had  no  trouble  finding  them.  He  would  get 
possession  of  some  fast  horse,  and  turn  the  animal  on  pas- 
ture until  the  hair  would  lay  forward  and  his  mane  and 
tail  were  full  of  cockleburs  and  Spanish  needles.  Having 
secured  a  horse  of  this  kind  that  had  a  fast  record,  Sam 
went  to  Peoria  to  attend  the  races,  and  played  the  dudes  out 
of  a  large  amount  of  money.  We  are  indebted  to  Sam  Corn- 
well,  of  Havana,  for  the  following  account  of  "how  Sam 
done  it  the  first  day  of  the  races." 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  145 

Sam  stood  around  with  his  hands  in  his  breeches' 
pockets,  watching  the  horses  and  laying  his  plans.  The 
second  day  he  staggered  up  to  the  crowd  and  said,  "I  don't 
think  you've  any  fast  hosses  here."  The  dudes  thought 
they  had  caught  a  tartar.  "Have  you  got  anything,  old 
hayseed,  that  can  beat  them?"  said  they.  "I  don't  know," 
said  Sam,  "but  what  if'  I  could  find  a  hoss  that  could  do 
it."  "Bring  him  in,  trot  him  out,"  said  the  crowd,  "and 
to  make  it  interesting  back  him  up  with  $25."  "That  is  a 
good  deal  of  money,"  said  Watkins,  "but  I  know  George 
Walker  down  in  town,  and  I  think  I  can  get  the  money 
from  him."  "Oh,  make  it  $50,"  said  the  crowd,  who  now 
thought  they  had  a  green  one  to  deal  with,  and  they  kept 
on  bantering  until  they  got  the  stake  up  to  several  hundred 
dollars.  Sam's  turn  now  come,  and  he  led  them  up  to 
$1,000.  The  race  was  to  come  off  next  morning.  When 
Sam  appeared  on  the  track  with  his  horse  a  yell  of  delight 
arose  from  the  crowd.  "Old  Cocklebur,"  cried  they,  "is 
that  the  horse  you  propose  to  run  against  our  fine  horses  ?" 
"That  is  my  hoss,"  said  Sam,  "but  I  want  to  draw  the  race. 
My  rider  is  as  drunk  as  a  devil,  and  you  taking  my  money 
would  be  worse  than  stealing.".  "You  don't  get  off  that 
easy,"  said  they,  "the  race  must  come  off.  Hurry  up,  old 
hayseed."  Sam  took  his  rider  by  the  foot  to  help  him  on 
the  horse,  but  the  rider  still  played  drunk  and  fell  to  the 
ground.  "No  more  fooling,"  said  they,  and  once  more  the 
rider  mounted  the  horse,  not  drunk  this  time,  but  erect 
and  as  fine  a  rider  as  ever  rode  a  race,  and  Old  Cocklebur 
went  round  the  track  ahead  of  the  Peoria  horses  and  won 
by  100  feet.  Sam's  backers,  who  had  been  stationed  in  the 
background,  now  appeared  and  demanded  their  money. 

The  crowd  was  dumbfounded.  "Who  arc  you,  any- 
way?" they  asked.  "I  am  Old  Sam  Watkins,  of  Menard 
county;  did  you  ever  hear  tell  of  him?"  "Sold  out  by 
Cockleburs,"  said  they,  "sold,  sold!" 

10 


146 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 


SALEM  IN  J837 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  147 


EXPLANATION  OF  MAP 

1  Mill  and  Dam. 

2  Jacob  Bales. 

3  McNamar's  store. 

4  The  Log  Tavern. 

5  Dr.  Allen's  residence. 

6  Aleck  Fergesson's  cabin. 

7  Hill's  store. 

8  Hill's  residence. 

9  The  Carding  Machine. 
.  10  Martin  Waddle. 

11  William  McNeely. 

12  Henry  Onstot's  cooper  shop. 

13  H.  Onstot's  residence. 

14  Miller's  blacksmith  shop. 
15-16  Miller  &  Kelso  residence. 

17  Road  from  Petersburg. 

18  Road  from  Mill— West. 

19  Springfield  road — South. 

20  The  Lincoln  cellar 

with  the  three  trees  growing. 

21  Grave  Yard. 

22  Schoolhouse. 

23  Gander  Pulling. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
OLD  SALEM  ON  THE  HILL 

HE  PLAT  of  Salem  is  correct,  as  the  old  settlers 
will  testify,  as  Mrs.  Hill  had  it  in  her  scrap 
book,  and  as  it  was  published  in  1892.    It  was  of 
her  that  J.  McCann  Davis  got  it  and  published 
it  in  his  writings  in  McClure's  Magazine  for  December, 
1895,  without  giving  me  the  proper  credit. 

No.  2  on  the  bluff  was  where  Offit  and  others  kept 
store,  when  the  store  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  rowdies, 
and  Radford  was  glad  to  get  an  offer  for  it  from  "Slicky 
Bill"  Green,  and  Green  then  sold  it  to  Lincoln  and  Berry. 
It  is  here  where  the  three  trees  grew  up  out  of  the  cellar, 
which  Governor  Palmer  at  the  last  year's  Chautauqua  said 
were  planted  by  Lincoln,  which  was  one  of  the  many  mis- 
takes the  Governor  made,  as  the  trees,  by  the  size  of  them, 
cannot  be  over  twenty-five  years  old,  and  it  was  twenty- 
five  years  after  the  house  was  torn  down  before  they  were 
sprouted.  Some  tall  scenes  were  enacted  at  this  house  while 
standing.  It  was  here  that  the  rowdies  put  old  Jordon  in 
a  barrel  and  rolled  him  down  hill  into  the  river.  We  sup- 
pose he  thought  "Jordon  was  a  hard  road  to  travel."  A 
post  stands  within  a  few  feet  of  the  cellar  with  an  inscrip- 
tion as  the  place  where  Lincoln  and  Jack  Armstrong  had 
a  wrestling  match,  which  is  doubtful,  as  if  such  an  oc- 
currence had  happened  it  would  have  been  up  in  the  town. 
The  old  house  has  had  a  history,  and  though  it  was  a  small, 
unpretentious  building  it  will  pass  down  in  history  as  the 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  149 

building  where  Lincoln  sold  goods.  The  actors  have  all 
passed  away.  "Though  they  may  forget  the  singer,  they 
have  not  forgotten  the  song." 

No.  3  is  where  Jacob  Bale  lived.  He  was  a  Kentuckian 
by  birth,  and  had  a  large  family.  Hardin  Bale  was  the 
eldest  boy,  while  Henry  and  William  were  younger ;  Fannie 
was  the  oldest.  She  became  the  wife  of  James  Summers; 
next  was  Sophia,  then  Mary  Jane,  and  Susan,  the  wife  of 
John  Sampson.  The  Bale  family  was  one  of  the  prominent 
families  of  Salem  for  nearly  twenty  years.  Jacob  was  a 
man  of  not  much  education  and  finally  became  a  preacher, 
we  suppose,  because  his  brother,  Abraham,  who  came  from 
Kentucky  in  1843,  was  also  a  preacher.  Jacob's  house  was 
the  last  to  be  moved  away.  The  well  still  stands.  It  was 
walled  with  rock  and  is  now  covered  with  old  railroad  ties, 
and  is  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  and  is  called  "Jacob's 
Well."  Abraham  had  a  voice  like  a  lion.  He  had  a  habit 
when  preaching  of  grasping  his  left  ear  with  his  hand,  then 
leaning  over  as  far  as  he  could  and  lowering  his  voice.  He 
would  commence  to  straighten  up  and  his  voice  would  raise 
to  a  high  key.  He  would  pound  the  bible  with  his  fist 
and  stamp  the  floor,  and  carry  everything  before  him.  He 
created  excitement  in  the  first  years  of  his  ministry  in 
Salem.  He  was  a  Baptist,  though  not  of  the  hardshell 
persuasion.  Hardin  was  Jacob's  son,  and  was  a  natural 
machinist,  and  for  a  number  of  years  ran  the  carding  ma- 
chine in  Salem.  The  power  was  an  incline  wheel  forty 
feet  in  diameter,  and  oxen  were  used  instead  of  horses. 
The  cogs  were  all  made  out  of  hickory  wood.  I  think  Jacob 
Bale's  family  are  all  dead,  except  Susan,  the  wife  of  John 
Sampson. 

No.  4  was  a  store  house.  On  the  north  side  of  the 
street  at  the  head  of  the  hollow,  where  the  road  came  from 
the  north,  is  where  Lincoln  kept  store  with  Bill  Berry  and 
where  since,  and  later  on,  McNamar  did  business.  The 


150  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

spot  is  still  marked  by  the  cellar.  I  recollect  seeing  the 
house  full  of  shelled  corn  before  it  was  torn  down.  I  sup- 
pose the  corn  was  shipped  down  the  river  by  flat-boat.  1 
don't  know  how  the  corn  was  shelled,  as  it  was  before 
shellers  came  around.  The  houses  on  the.  diagram  were 
all  on  the  street  that  ran  east  and  west.  There  were  a 
number  of  small  houses  south  of  the  street  and  east  of  the 
hotel  row.  Herendon  lived  in  one.  He  acquired  some 
notoriety  by  shooting  and  killing  his  wife.  Whether  acci- 
dental or  on  purpose  the  people  were  about  equally  divided 
in  their  opinions.  He  was  fooling  with  a  loaded  gun  and 
it  went  off  and  killed  her.  There  was  Nelson  Altig  and 
Napoleon  Greer,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  Johnson  El- 
more  and  Alex  Trent.  I  recollect  going  to  Elmore's  once 
for  some  sauerkraut.  Mrs.  Elsmore  was  taking  it  out' of  an 
old  churn  and  a  long  yarn  string  came  out  of  the  churn. 
My  brother  called  her  attention  to  it.  She  said  it  was  some 
of  the  ravelings  of  Clara's  stockings  which  she  had  on  when 
she  was  tramping  it  in  the  churn.  Clara  afterward  be- 
came the  wife  of  Abraham  Bale.  The  vacant  spot  of  ground, 
south  of  the  road  and  east  of  Jacob  Bale's,  was  used  for 
horse  racing  and  gander  pulling,  a  sport  that  has  gone  out 
of  date,  and  if  it  should  now  be  attempted  those  engaged 
would  be  indicted  for  cruelty  to  animals.  Men  would  often 
run  foot  races  on  this  ground,  and  even  repair  there  to  fight 
out  their  quarrels. 

No.  5  was  the  two-story  log  tavern.  It  was  built  in  1830 
by  James  Rutledge,  and  kept  by  him  till  1833,  when  Henry 
Onstot,  my  father,  became  landlord  for  two  years.  It 
was  the  stopping  place  for  travel  from  the  east  through  Ha- 
vana and  the  western  part  of  the  state.  It  was  16x30,  with 
an  ell  16x20,  and  was  two  stories  high.  Abraham  Lincoln 
boarded  at  this  hotel  all  the  time  he  lived  in  Salem.  I 
well  remember  him  as  a  marble  player  and  a  quoit  pitcher. 
He  could  plump  the  middle  man  nine  times  out  of  ten,  and 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  151 

kept  the  small  boys  running  after  marbles.  He  was  a  jolly, 
good-natured  fellow  and  followed  surveying  after  he  quit 
merchandising  and  the  postoffice.  I  have  often  seen  him 
shoulder  his  compass  and  start  out  and  be  gone  for  two 
weeks.  He  would  stay  at  Jack  Armstrong's  sometimes  for 
a  week  or  so.  After  father  moved  out  Nelson  Altig  kept 
it  for  some  time,  and  the  last  landlord  before  it  was  torn 
dowri  was  Michael  Keltner.  He  had  a  lot  of  big  girls, 
among  which  was  Catherine,  a  large  buxom  girl  twenty 
years  o'f  age.  About  this  time  Tarlton  Lloyd,  a  rich 
widower,  aged  sixty,  lived  on  Rock  Creek,  and  as  is  the 
usual  case  with  old  widowers,  was  looking  around  for  a 
young  wife.  Catherine  thought  it  a  good  chance  and  set 
her  cap  for  him.  It  was  a  marriage  of  convenience  and 
the  day  was  set  for  the  wedding.  Keltner  was  poor,  but 
the  neighbors  all  helped,  and  a  grand  dinner  was  set  and  a 
large  number  of  guests  invited.  Long  tables  were  set.  My 
mother  helped  cook.  Keltner  reasoned  that  Lloyd  would 
probably  live  ten  years  and  then  leave  Catherine  a  widow 
of  thirty,  and  then  she  would  have  a  good  home,  a  fat  dower, 
and  be  comfortable  the  rest  of  her  days,  but  the  best  laid 
schemes  often  fail.  Catherine  died  at  forty  years,  and 
Lloyd  didn't  die  till  he  was  104  years  old.  An  incident 
happened  at  the  wedding  that  I  shall  never  forget.  James 
Hoey,  of  Petersburg,  was  master  of  ceremonies,  and  at- 
tempted to  carve  the  turkeys  with  a  tight  pair  of  gloves 
on  his  hands.  One  old  gobbler,  that  was  rather  tough,  while 
he  was  sawing  away  on  it,  slipped  off  the  dish  on  the  floor, 
where  two  small  dogs  went  to  fighting  over  it.  As  there 
was  a  number  of  turkeys  left,  the  dogs  were  allowed  to 
have  it. 

I  thought  when  I  commenced  writing  of  Salem,  that 
one  small  article  would  do,  but  it  appears  that  when  I  com . 
mence  to  write  a  spirit  of  inspiration  hovers  over  my 
pencil. 


152  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 


THE  WEST  END  OF  SALEM 

In  my  writings  of  old  times  in  Menard  it  is  as  it  was 
when  I  knew  it,  not  as  it  was  in  after  years,  and  my  imagina- 
tion is  just  as  vivid  and  fresh  as  though  the  incidents  only 
happened  yesterday. 

No.  6  was  Hill's  store.  This  is  the  place  where 
all  persons  congregated.  Hill  came  at  an  early  day  and 
was  an  important  personage  as  long  as  Salem  lasted.  He 
made  a  trip  to  St.  Louis  in  the  spring  and  fall.  First  going 
to  Beardstown ;  he  would  then  take  a  steamboat  to  St.  Louis 
and  would  stay  a  week  or  so.  A  stock  of  goods  in  those 
days  would  be  a  curiosity'  now.  His  standard  goods  were 
blue  calico,  brown  muslin,  and  cotton  chain  for  the  weaver. 
No  luxuries  were  indulged  in.  There  was  no  canned  fruit 
then,  no  dried  fruit,  as  the  farmers  brought  in  dried  apples 
and  peaches.  Hill's  store  was  headquarters  for  all  political 
discussions.  The  farmers  would  congregate  there  and  dis- 
cuss the  questions  of  the  day.  Peter  Cartright,  who  was  a 
politician  then  as  well  as  a  preacher,  would  spend  hours  on 
the  porch,  and  by  his  wit  and  sallies  keep  the  audience  in 
an  uproar  of  laughter,  and  the  man  who  undertook  to 
Badger  Uncle  Peter  always  came  out  second  best.  Cartright 
was  a  frequent  visitor  at  Salem  and  had  not  then  risen  to 
the  zenith  of  his  fame  as  a  preacher. 

No.  7  was  where  Dr.  John  Allen  lived.  He  came  to 
Salem  in  an  early  day  and  soon  had  the  leading  practice  in 
the  country.  He  was  a  Christian  gentleman  of  the  highest 
type  and  belonged  to  the  Presbyterian  Church.  He  was 
very  aggressive  in  all  his  views.  He  soon  had  a  Sunday 
school  going.  There  being  no  school,  he  would  open  his 
house.  After  a  while  the  doctor  organized  a  temperance 
society,  which  raised  great  opposition,  even  the  church 
members  were  his  great  opponents,  the  hardshelled  Bap- 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  153 

tists.  Dr.  Allen  was  lame  in  one  leg,  and  consequently 
had  a  heap  of  tips  and  downs  in  life.  While  living  in  Salem 
he  married  Margaret  Moore,  who  lived  near  Indian  Point. 
She  died  about  the  time  he  moved  to  Petersburg,  which  was 
in  1840.  He  was  a  good  collector.  In  the  fall  of  the  year 
he  would  buy  dressed  hogs  and  make  bacon  of  them,  and 
would  send  them  to  St.  Louis  and  thus  collect  his  bills.  He 
kept  at  this  after  he  moved  to  Petersburg,  and  would  salt 
down  200  or  300  head. 

No.  8  was  Hill's  dwelling  near  his  store.  In  1837  he 
married  Parthena  Nance,  a  sister  of  Hon.  Thomas  Nance, 
a  prominent  man,  who  lived  on  Rock  Creek,  and  who  died 
in  the  past  year. 

Across  the  street  in  No.  9,  lived  Alexander  Ferguson. 
If  he  had  an  occupation,  it  was  as  a  shoemaker.  In  the 
fall,  farmers  who  had  taken  their  hides  to  the  tan  yard 
the  year  before,  would  bring  them  to  Ferguson  with  the 
measures  of  the  whole  family.  I  have  seen  William  Samp- 
son come  after  his  shoes  with  a  two  bushel  sack  and  take  a 
dozen  pair  home.  They  were  very  rough  and  would  not 
be  worn  now.  Alex.  Ferguson  had  a  brother  that  was  a 
great  fighter.  He  would  fight  any  man  just  to  show  how 
good  a  man  he  was. 

No.  10  was  the  carding  machine,  run  by  Hardin  Bale 
for  several  years,  before  he  moved  it  down  to  Petersburg 
in  1841.  Every  person  kept  sheep  in  those  days,  and  took 
the  wool  to  the  machine  where  it  was  carded  by  taking 
toll  out  of  the  wool  or  sometimes  they  would  pay  for  it. 
They  commenced  bringing  in  wool  in  May  and  by  June 
the  building  would  be  full.  It  was  amusing  to  see  the  sacks 
of  all  sorts  and  sizes  and  sometimes  old  petticoats.  For 
every  ten  pounds  of  wool  they  would  bring  a  gallon  of 
grease,  mostly  in  old  gourds.  Large  thorns  were  used  to 
pin  the  packages  together.  Hardin  Bale  did  not  spin  or 
weave  till  after  he  moved  to  Petersburg.  He  was  a  man 


154  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

of  great  energy  and  a  natural  machinist.  In  early  life 
everything  he  touched  turned  into  money.  In  after  life 
everything  went  against  him. 

No.  1 1  was  Robert  Johnson's,  the  wheelright.  He  made 
looms,  spinning  wheels,  and  chairs,  and  was  a  very  useful 
man  in  the  community.  He  had  two  daughters  and  one 
son,  Nannie  and  Amanda  and  his  son  Robert.  Johnson's 
family  always  camped  at  Rock  Creek.  Mrs.  Johnson  was 
very  religious  and  was  subject  to  the  "jerks,"  which  was 
worse  than  the  shaking  ague.  After  a  severe  spell  she 
would  be  sick  for  several  days. 

No.  12  was  the  residence  of  Martin  Waddle,  the  village 
hatter.  No  hats  were  sold  by  the  storekeeper,  except  straw 
hats.  Waddle  made  hats  for  50  cents  out  of  rabbit  fur, 
and  hats  of  coon  fur  as  high  as  $2.  He  had  one  son  and 
several  daughters.  There  were  Jane  and  Polly  Waddle  and 
the  boy's  name  I  have  forgotten.  I  think  Waddle  had  all  the 
work  he  could  do,  though  the  hats  he  made  would  be  a 
curiosity  now. 

No.  13  was  the  cooper  shop  of  Henry  Onstot.  Cooper- 
ing was  a  great  trade  then  and  the  best  of  white  oak  tim- 
ber was  close  at  hand.  He  would  cut  a  dozen  trees  in  the 
spring  and  have  the  staves  seasoned  a  year  ahead.  Bale's 
mill  used  a  great  many  flour  barrels  and  there  was  a  good 
demand  for  country  trade.  The  surplus  was  sent  to  Beards  - 
town  and  Springfield. 

No.  14  was  one  of  the  busiest  places  in  town.  It  was 
Miller's  blacksmith  shop.  Everything  in  iron  had  to  be 
made,  and  the  iron  had  to  be  forged  out  of  large  bars  of 
iron. 

No.  15  was  my  father's  house  after  1835.  It  was  a  large 
log  house  with  a  frame  room  on  the  west  end.  The  house 
was  used  for  preaching.  Rev.  J.  M.  Berry  preached  here 
for  a  number  of  years.  His  sermons  were  always  doctrinal. 
Final  perseverance  was  his  best  hold.  He  would  sandwich 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  155 

it  on  some  place  in  the  sermon,  and  he  was  a  great  sticker 
for  infant  baptism.  After  his  son,  William  Berry  died,  he 
was  a  very  solemn  man.  The  only  way  I  could  get  even 
with  the  old  Cumberland  preacher  was  when  I  rode  his 
horses  to  water.  I  put  them  through  for  a  mile  or  so  at  a 
fast  gait.  No  preacher  in  those  days  ever  rode  in  a  car- 
riage. He  was  always  horseback,  with  a  pair  of  saddle 
bags,  and  he  always  carried  books. 

Nos.  1 6  and  17  was  a  double  log  house.  In  the  west 
end  lived  Jack  Kelso  with  his  wife.  He  had  no  children 
and  was  a  jolly,  contented  specimen  of  humanity.  He  had 
no  trade  and  was  ready  to  do  a  day's  work  if  wanted.  In 
summer  he  depended  on  his  fish  hook.  He  was  an  expert. 
He  could  catch  fish  when  others  couldn't  get  a  bite.  In 
winter  his  trusty  rifle  always  kept  him  in  meat.  In  the 
fall  he  would  find  enough  bee  trees  to  furnish  him  with 
honey.  His  wife  was  a  sister  to  Miller's  wife.  He  always 
lived  well  and  was  a  happy  man.  In  the  other  end  of  the 
house  lived  Joshua  Miller,  the  village  blacksmith.  He  was 
a  short,  heavy  man,  and  had  a  son  named  Caleb  and  a 
daughter  named  Louisa.  He  always  had  plenty  of  work 
and  when  work  was  slack  he  would  iron  a  wagon.  Miller's 
was  the  place  where  the  whangdoodle  preachers  held  forth, 
but  as  a  preacher  in  Mississippi  said :  "It  was  better  to  have 
a  hardshell  than  no  shell  at  all."  I  have  now  endeavored  to 
picture  Salem  in  its  glory,  and  if  James  Bale  will  have  it 
mowed  off  next  Chautauqua  and  stakes  are  furnished,  I 
will  locate  where  every  house  stood  that  I  have  described. 


OLD  SALEM  UNDER  THE  HILL 

It  was  once  a  bustling  town.  It  was  the  place  where  all 
trade  centered.  I  well  remember  when  it  was  in  its  glory. 
It  was  over  a  half  mile  long.  The  main  street  ran  from 
the  mill  west  to  Miller's  blacksmith  shop  on  the  right  hand 


156  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

with  Onstot's  cooper  shop  on  the  left,  with  Dr.  Allen's  field 
of  twenty  acres,  at  the  west  end  of  town,  and  a  little  farther 
on  was  Menter  Graham's  brick  house,  with  forty  acres 
cleared  out  of  the  barrens.  There  was  only  one  street  run- 
ning east  and  west,  except  where  the  Springfield  road  turned 
south  from  the  log  hotel.  The  Hill's  and  Bale's  carding 
machine  and  Hill's  store,  with  Lincoln's  and  Green's  and 
McNamar's  and  Offtt's  stores,  formed  a  nucleus  around 
which  trade  centered,  while  Waddle's  hatter  shop,  Miller's 
blacksmith  shop,  Onstot's  cooper  shop,  Johnson's  wheel- 
right  shop,  and  Alex  Fergesson's  shoe  shop,  made  a  nice 
little  humming  town. 

It  was  the  only  town,  till  Petersburg  began  to  grow,  be- 
tween Havana  and  Springfield,  with  Sangamontown  eight 
miles  north  of  Springfield  and  Athens  about  the  same  dis- 
tance on  the  east  side  of  the  river.  The  transformation  of 
the  name  of  New  Salem  to  Old  Salem  may  not  be  under- 
stood by  all.  The  original  name  of  the  town  site  was  New 
Salem.  In  the  course  of  time  there  was  a  Salem  in  Mason 
county,  and  a  postoffice  by  the  name  of  New  Salem,  and 
when  the  Chautauqua  began  to  arouse  importance  there 
was  a  danger  of  getting  names  mixed,  so  it  was  wisdom 
to  call  the  oldest  Salem,  Old  Salem,  and  so  the  historic 
spot  where  old  Abe  spent  the  formation  part  of  his  life 
goes  by  the  name  of  Old  Salem. 

The  mill  was  built  by  Cameron  and  Rutledge  as  far 
back  as  1825.  It  was  a  lively  place,  though  now  in  these 
days  of  rollers  and  patent  flour  it  would  be  out  of  date. 
In  those  days  people  went  to  mill  on  horseback;  if  a  farmer 
wanted  to  send  four  sacks  to  mill  he  sent  four  boys  with 
a  two  bushel  sack  on  each  horse,  and  it  was  sometimes  said 
that  he  would  fill  grain  in  one  end  and  a  rock  in  the  other 
end  to  balance.  It  might  have  been  the  case  when  it  was 
a  jug  in  one  end.  Fancy,  if  you  please,  forty  horses  hitched 
up  the  sides  of  a  steep  hill  with  their  heads  forty-five  de- 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  157 

grees  higher  than  their  hams,  and  forty  boys  fishing  or  in 
swimming,  or  playing  fox  and  geese  on  the  bottom  of  the 
"Miller's  Half  Bushel,"  and  you  have  a  good  idea  how  the 
boys  spent  their  time  when  they  went  to  mill. 

My  uncle  Sampson  would  come  to  mill  in  his  wagon. 
He  had  old  Rock  and  Slider  for  the  wheel  horses.  He  did 
not  use  check  lines.  He  rode  Rock  for  a  saddle  horse  and 
then  he  had  Yona,  a  black  mare,  he  brought  from  Vir- 
ginia, hitched  to  the  end  of  the  tongue,  that  was  ten  feet 
longer  than  the  wheel  horse,  and  with  a  single  line  he  would 
make  old  Yona  keep  the  wagon  straight.  He  would  start 
to  mill  with  one  of  his  boys  and  a  week's  provisions  and 
never  go  home  till  he  got  his  grist  ground. 

The  mill  ran  all  the  year.  Jacob  Bale  was  the  owner 
as  far  back  as  I  can  recollect,  and  his  boys,  Hardin, 
Henry  and  William,  run  the  mill.  There  were  bushels  of 
corn  ground  to  one  of  wheat.  People  used  corn  bread 
six  days  in  a  week,  and  on  Sunday  morning,  if  we  children 
had  been  good  all  week,  then  WTC  had  biscuit  and  preserves. 
The  meal  was  used  principally  for  corn  dodgers.  Two 
quarts  of  meal  were  mixed  with  cold  water,  with  a  little  salt 
added,  and  the  cook  would  grease  the  skillet  and  make  three 
pones  that  fit  in  the  skillet,  and  as  the  finishing  touch  would 
give  it  a  pat  and  leave  the  print  of  her  hand  on  the  bread, 
and  then  with  a  shovel  of  coals  on  the  skillet  lid,  would 
bake  it  so  hard  that  you  could  knock  a  Texas  steer  down 
with  a  chunk  of  it,  or  split  an  end  board  forty  yards  off- 
hand. Milk  and  mush  or  milk  with  corn  bread  crumbled 
in.  was  the  diet  the  kids  were  raised  on. 

The  destruction  of  the  mill  and  dam  has  been  complete. 
I  supposed  the  dam  was  fixed  for  all  time  and  that  after 
the  mill  had  been  burned  that  the  dam  would  stand  for  a 
thousand  years,  and  that  the  water  would  spurt  through 
the  rocks  till  Gabriel  should  sound  his  trumpet. 

The  dam  was  built  of  stone  in  cribs  made  of  timber, 


158  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

and  more  than  1,000  loads  of  stone  were  filled  in  them. 
Where  all  the  stone  has  gone  is  a  mystery,  and  now,  like 
Jerusalem,  not  one  stone  is  left  on  another. 

In  1832  a  steamboat,  the  Utility,  came  up  the  Sangamon 
as  far  as  the  mill  and  laid  there  a  week.  Hundreds  of 
people  came  from  miles  around  to  see  the  boat,  and  though 
now  it  would  be  considered  a  very  slim  pattern  for  a  boat, 
it  attracted  great  attention.  It  was  a  stern  wheeler  and 
not  over  100  feet  long.  Salem  was  then  the  first  town  after 
leaving  Beardstown  and  many  air  castles  were  built,  and 
Salem  was  to  be  a  great  river  port.  This  incident  gave  a 
boom  to  Salem  and  most  of  the  building  in  the  town  was 
the  result  of  the  visit  of  this  boat.  In  a  year  or  so  the 
Talisman,  a  large  boat,  a  side  wheel  boat,  came  up  and  went 
up  above  the  dam  as  high  as  Springfield  and  came  back. 
About  this  time  Petersburg  was  laid  out  and  John  Taylor, 
who  was  the  proprietor  of  Petersburg,  bought  the  boat  and 
dismantled  it.  The  engine  and  boiler  were  used  in  the  first 
steam  mill  at  Petersburg.  It  was  old  style  and  its  "cough" 
could  be  heard  for  miles  around.  A  large  business  was 
done  at  the  mill  for  ten  years,  till  the  boiler  was  burned  out. 
John  Webb  run  it  last.  It  was  both  a  saw  and  grist  mill. 

And  so  Salem  began  from  Rutledge  &  Cameron's  mill 
to  grow  into  a  town  of  considerable  importance.  It  had 
.  a  large  share  of  the  trade  north  of  Rock  Creek,  around  west 
to  Clary's  Grove,  Little  Grove  around  north,  Concord  and 
the  Sandridge  on  the  east,  Indian  Point,  New  Market  and 
Athens,  and  those  that  came  from  these  localities  were  the 
Tibbs,  Wisemans,  Hohimers,  Hornbuckles,  Purkapiles,  Mat- 
tlings,  Goldbys,  Wynns,  Cogdalls  from  the  south ;  from  the 
west  was  the  Berrys,  Bones,  Greens,  Potters,  Armstrongs, 
Clarks,  Summers,  Grahams,  Watkins,  Gums,  Spears,  Con- 
overs,  Whites,  Jones;  in  the  north,  Pantiers,  Clarys,  Arnv- 
strongs,  Wagoners ;  on  the  east  were  Smoots,  Godbys,  Rig- 
gins,  Watkins,  Whites,  Wilcoxs,  Clarks,  Straders,  Baxters, 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 


159 


and  a  host  of  others.  Most  of  these  have  passed  in  their 
checks,  but  their  children  still  occupy  the  farms.  In  Mason 
county,  if  a  farm  is  for  sale,  some  German  is  sure  to  grab 
it  up,  while  in  Menard  it  is  kept  for  generations  in  families. 
The  men  I  have  named  were  visitors  at  Salem  from  the  deep 
snow  till  1836,  when  Petersburg  began  to  compete  for  their 
trade,  and  the  mill  and  carding  machine  still  held  their 
custom.  The  inhabitants  were  all  from  Kentucky  and  Vir- 
ginia and  laid  a  good  foundation  for  future  generations. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


OLD  SETTLERS'  DAY 


HE  attendance  at  the  twenty-eighth  annual  re- 
union of  old  settlers  of  Menard  county,  held  in 
Tallula  on  Wednesday,  was  not  so  large  as 
those  of  former  years,  many  doubtless  being 
kept  away  by  the  unpropitious  weather.  Rain  interfered 
seriously  with  the  exercises,  both  in  the  morning  and  in 
the  afternoon.  Addresses  were  made  by  Rev.  H.  P.  Curry, 
of  Petersburg,  and  T.  G.  Onstot,  of  Forest  City.  Both 
were  of  a  reminiscent  nature  and  were  especially  interest- 
ing to  the  old-timers.  The  rocking  chairs  for  the  man 
and  woman  who  had  resided  longest  in  the  county,  con- 
tinuously, were  awarded  to  W.  C.  ("Top")  Green  and  Mrs. 
Mary  Beekman. 

Rain  brought  the  exercises  to  an  abrupt  close  in  the  after- 
noon, and  secretary  John  Tice's  necrological  report  and 
other  features  of  the  program  were  omitted. 

Following  is  the  synopsis  of  Mr.  Onstot's  address : 
Fellow  Citizens  and  Old  Settlers  of  Menard  County : 
I  feel  highly  honored  to  be  with  you  today.  I  suppose  I 
am  one  of  you.  In  fact,  I  am  a  "Snow  Bird'' — born  in 
Sugar  Grove  in  1829,  while  the  Indian  wigwonis  were  st-'ll 
among  the  Salt  Creek  bluffs — cradled  in  a  log  cabin  on  a 
farm  now  occupied  by  Henry  Marbold,  my  father  having 
settled  there  in  1825.  My  first  recollections  of  life  are  of 
Old  Salem,  which  was  then  called  New  Salem,  and  which 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  161 

was  then  the  central  city  of  what  is  now  Mcnard  county. 
The  mill  on  the  Sangamon  river,  built  by  Cameron  and 
Rutledge  in  1824,  was  one  of  the  first  improvements  in  the 
central  part  of  the  county. 

The  early  pioneers  were  composed  of  two  classes.  The 
first  were  God  fearing  men  and  no  sooner  had  they  built 
their  cabins  and  cleared  a  few  acres  of  ground  than  they 
erected  a  log  schoolhouse  with  clapboard  roof,  for  the  edu- 
cation of  their  children  and  for  holding  religious  meet- 
ings. This  audience,  composed  mostly  of  the  third  genera- 
tion, know  but  little  of  the  hardships  and  privations  your 
fathers  and  grandfathers  underwent.  Your  mothers  and 
grandmothers  were  as  great  heroines  as  your  fathers  and 
grandfathers  were  heroes.  I  shall  call  to  your  memory 
many  names  worthy  of  mention;  many  whose  names  are- 
worthy  to  be  written  high  on  the  scroll  of  fame.  Many  of 
these  are  no  more  with  us  to  help  celebrate  this  day,  but 
the  good  influences  of  their  useful  lives  and  good  examples 
are  with  us. 

Clary's  Grove,  with  Little  Grove  on  the  north,  was 
among  the  first  settled.  You  will  recollect  George  Spears 
as  an  early  settler.  He  built  the  first  brick  house  in  the 
grove  and  was  an  influential  citizen  for  many  years. 

Near  by  Spears  lived  Robert  Conover.  His  first  wife 
died  in  an  early  day  and  he  married  again  and  moved  near 
Petersburg. 

"Uncle  Jimmy"  White  will  be  remembered  by  the  first 
settlers.  He  had  a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters. 
Guthrie  White  was  one  of  the  finest  preachers  in  Central 
Illinois,  but  he  got  to  fighting  the  Catholics  and  virtually 
butted  his  brains  out  against  a  stone  wall.  The  people  once 
elected  Uncle  Jimmy  to  the  legislature. 

John  Kinner  was  a  son-in-law  of  White.  He  had  1:ie 
finest  bellflower  apples  in  the  county,  but  I  never  liked  his 
way  of  bringing  them  to  town.  He  had  them  tied  up  in 

two  bushel  sacks  to  keep  us  boys  from  sampling  them, 
n 


162  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

Isaac  Bell  was  another  son-in-law  of  White.  Other 
noted  men  in  Clary's  Grove  were  Theodore  Baker,  William 
Beekman,  John  Haley  Spears  and  William  Spears.  A  little 
farther  north  lived  Jesse  Gum,  a  little  old  man  who  always 
came  to  town  in  an  ox  cart.  "Uncle"  Jesse  had  a  large 
family  of  boys.  John  B.  Gum  died  in  Havana  six  years 
ago.  He  built  a  hotel  in  Petersburg  and  was  county  sur- 
veyor at  an  early  day. 

A  little  farther  north  Joe  Watkins  had  settled,  away 
back  in  the  "twenties."  He  was  a  very  large  man  and 
you  could  always  find  him  sitting  on  his  front  porch.  He 
had  a  race  track  east  of  his  house. 

The  early  settlers  did  not  make  prairie  farms,  but  would 
build  their  houses  in  the  edge  of  the  timber  and  make  a 
clearing.  I  well  recollect  when  the  open  prairie  ran  from 
Rock  Creek  north  to  Oakford;  when  hundreds  of  cattle 
ranged  the  open  prairie ;  when  a  farm  could  be  opened  with- 
out grubbing. 

Concord,  three  miles  north  of  Petersburg,  was  settled 
before  1830.  Samuel  Berry,  James  Pantier,  Jack  Clary, 
Reason  Shipley,  Jack  Armstrong  where  the  first  to  cast 
their  lots  in  this  locality.  The  Cumberland  camp  ground, 
to  which  the  surrounding  country  would  move  bodily  once 
a  year  for  a  week's  outing,  will  be  remembered.  James 
Pantier  was  an  eccentric  character.  He  was  a  faith  doctor 
and  could  cure  snake  bites  and  mad  dog  bites. 

Another  prominent  citizen  near  Concord  was  James 
Short.  He  was  the  man  that  bid  off  Lincoln's  surveying  out- 
fit and  then  made  Lincoln  a  present  of  it.  Short's  father 
was  a  Revolutionary  soldier.  East  of  Concord  lived  my 
uncle,  William  Sampson,  who  came  from  Virginia.  He 
had  eight  boys.  Hannah  Sampson,  his  wife,  once  killed 
a  deer.  She  was  making  maple  sugar  and  had  heard  the 
hounds  for  an  hour  on  the  track.  She  saw  the  deer  coming 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  163 

towards  her  and  stepping  behind  a  tree  with  an  axe,  as  it 
ran  passed  she  dealt  it  a  heavy  blow  and  killed  it. 

Russell  Godby  lived  farther  north.  He  was  of  the  old 
Virginia  stock  and  a  Jackson  Democrat,  an'd  was  always 
chosen  chairman  of  Democratic  meetings. 

A  few  miles  east  and  we  come  to  Sugar  Grove,  the 
home  of  Bill  Engle.  He  was  a  great  talker  and  trader. 
Bill  never  let  any  man  get  ahead  of  him. 

Charles  Montgomery  was  an  all-round  man  and  could 
do  most  anything.  My  father  once  had  the  toothache  for 
a  week  and  there  was  no  doctor  nearer  than  Springfield. 
He  took  a  hammer  and  a  punch  and  set  it  against  the  tooth 
and  told  Charles  to  knock  it  out.  Charles  did  not  want 
to  try  it,  but  was  persuaded  to  do  so.  Drawing  back  for 
a  good  lick  he  struck  my  father  a  hard  blow  on  the  chin. 
After  he  got  over  his  fright  he  tried  again  and  knocked  the 
tooth  out. 

Among  the  early  settlers  at  Sugar  Grove  were  the  Alkire, 
Power,  Propst  and  Meadows  families.  South  of  these,  Jake 
Williams,  John  and  Jeff  Johnson,  the  Kincaids,  Riggins, 
Rankins  and  Rodgers.  These  were  pioneers  of  char- 
acter and  integrity.  Most  of  them  have  long  since  climbed 
the  golden  stairs,  but  their  children  are  chips  off  the  old 
tlock  and  have  taken  up  the  battle  of  life  where  their 
fathers  laid  it  down. 

We  now  cross  the  river  and  come  to  "Wolf."  Wolf  is 
"bounded  on  the  north  by  Purkapile  branch,  on  the  east  by 
the  Sangamon  river,  on  the  south  by  Rock  Creek,  on  the 
west  by  the  road  to  Springfield.  It  was  called  Wolf  as  far 
iDack  as  I  can  recollect. 

The  early  settlers  of  Wolf  were  the  Tibbs,  Wisemans, 
Hornbuckles,  Purkapiles  and  Kennedys.  They  made  their 
farms  in  the  barrens  when  as  good  prairie  land  as  there  is  in 
the  county  was  still  vacant. 

One  of  the  great  yearly  gatherings  was  the  Rock  Creek 


164  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

campmeeting.  Elihu  Bone  was  the  largest  camper.  I  have 
seen  him  feed  150  for  dinner  and  go  to  the  stand  and  an- 
nounce that  he  had  plenty  left. 

Two  of  the  greatest  men  of  that  early  day  were  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  and  Menter  Graham.  Lincoln  came -to  Salem 
in  1831.  There  he  lived  for  seven  years.  He  was  like 
Moses,  preparing  himself  for  the  great  mission  he  was  to 
fill  in  after  years.  My  father  kept  the  village  hotel  from 
1833  to  1835  and  had  Lincoln  for  a. boarder,  during  most 
of  the  time  he  lived  in  Salem.  Lincoln  followed  surveying, 
kept  grocery  store  and  was  postmaster.  He  succeeded 
vSamuel  Hill  as  postmaster.  Hill  kept  whisky  for  sale  and 
the  women  who  went  to  the  postoffice  complained  that 
Hill  would  wait  on  his  whisky  customers  first  and  keep 
them  waiting  for  their  mail;  so  they  go  up  a  petition  to 
have  Hill  removed  and  Lincoln  appointed  in  his  place. 
Lincoln  grew  up  among  the  rowdy  class,  but  never  acquired 
their  vices,  though  Herendon's  life  of  him  would  convey 
the  impression  that  he  was  immoral  and  an  infidel  and  a. 
man  of  low  tastes  and  habits. 

Menter  Graham  taught  school  within  the  bounds  of 
Menard  county  for  over  fifty  years  and  no  doubt  educated 
more  men,  who  made  their  mark  than  any  other;  and  so  I 
think  Uncle  Menter  ought  to  occupy  a  high  place  in  the 
hearts  of  the  old  settlers.  There  are  other  men  that  deserve 
mention,  among  them  Billy  Green,  the  grandfather  of  the 
present  Green  family,  who  settled  on  his  farm  in  the 
"twenties,"  Hugh  Armstrong  and  Ned  Potter.  Armstrong 
died  before  1840,  while  Ned  lived  to  be  an  old  man. 

Levi  Summers  lived  west  of  Salem.  The  central  man 
in  the  community  was  old  Tom  Watkins.  He  lived  in  a 
large  brick  house  and  kept  about  a  dozen  race  horses.  The 
last  time  I  saw  him  was  when  the  Chicago  &  Alton  rail- 
road was  being  built  through  west  of  his  house.  He  was 
much  excited.  "The  plagued  railroad,"  said  he,  "is  running 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  165 

through  my  grove  and  cutting  down  all  my  young  walnuts." 
His  son,  "Little  Tom,"  as  we  used  to  call  him,  was  a  soldier 
in  the  Mexican  war. 

From  1830  to  1840  Salem  was  in  its  glory.  Samuel 
Hill's  store  was  the  place  of  gathering.  On  his  front  porch 
politics  were  discussed.  Once  a  week  Peter  Cartright  came 
to  town.  He  was  a  politician  then.  He  defeated  Lincoln 
the  first  time  for  the  legislature,  in  1846.  Lincoln  beat  him 
for  Congress. 

One  of  the  prominent  settlers  of  Salem  was  Dr.  John 
Allen.  He  came  from  the  east  in  1832.  He  was  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  His  first  work 
was  to  form  a  temperance  society  and  he  found  his  worst 
opponents  among  church  members,  most  of  whom  had  their 
barrels  of  whisky  at  home. 

Another  center  of  interest  in  Salem  was  the  carding  ma- 
chine, run  by  Hardin  Bale.  The  motive  power  was  a  large 
wheel  forty  feet  in  diameter.  It  stood  on  an  incline  of 
twenty-five  degrees  and  a  couple  of  oxen  on  it  could  run  all 
the  machinery.  Martin  Waddle  was  the  hatter;  Robert 
Johnson  was  the  wheelright;  Joshua  Miller  was  the  black- 
smith ;  Henry  Onstot  was  the  cooper ;  Alex  Fergesson  was 
the  shoemaker. 


THE  FOUNDERS  OF  PETERSBURG 

George  Warberton  and  Peter  Lukins  were  the  original 
proprietors  of  Petersburg.  George  Warberton  was  an  old 
bachelor,  and  was  a  man  of  fine  attainments,  and  clerked 
for  merchants  in  Salem  and  Petersburg,  but  was  addicted 
to  the  drink  habit,  and  a  delerium  tremens'  life  finally  be- 
came a  burden  and  one  morning  he  was  found  drowned 
in  the  river  near  the  mill.  It  was  very  low,  a  person  could 
wade  across  it,  and  where  he  was  drowned  the  water  was 
not  over  three  feet  deep.  He  had  walked  out  on  a  log  and 


1 66  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

fell  face  foremost  and  did  not  look  as  if  he  had  ever  moved. 
Warberton  and  Lukins  had  sold  out  to  Jep  Taylor  a  few 
years  before  the  county  seat  had  been  located  at  Petersburg. 

Peter  Lukins  was  a  shoemaker,  and  like  Warberton,  was 
a  dissipated  man.  He  lived  north  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  in  a  small  frame  house  that  was  plastered  on  the 
outside,  instead  of  weather  boarding,  and  for  several  years 
did  all  the  cobbling  for  the  town.  He,  too,  died  by  his  own 
hand. 

An  old  toper,  who  lived  west  of  Salem,  by  the  name  of 
Joe  Fairfield,  who  got  drunk  every  time  he  went  to  town, 
came  along  one  evening  and  called  me  out  to  him.  I  was 
six  years  old,  and  he  pulled  out  his  bottle  and  said :  "You 
have  got  to  drink."  My  father  saw  him  and  forbade  me. 
"I'll  give  you  a  whipping,"  said  old  Joe.  I  broke  away 
from  him  and  hid  in  an  old  dry  kiln  till  he  was  out  of  sight. 
I  never  saw  my  father  so  angry  ,and  he  told  Fairfield  never 
to  offer  one  of  his  boys  liquor  again. 


A  TRIP  TO  PETERSBURG 

Tobe  Kirby  landed  us  safe  in  Petersburg  Tuesday 
evening,  December  20,  1899.  Next  morning  we  started  out 
to  renew  old  acquaintances,  and  went  to  the  Observer  office 
and  with  Mr.  Parks  spent  a  pleasant  hour  discussing  men 
and  measures,  after  which  we  went  to  the  postoffice  to 
see  Tim  Beekman,  with  whom  we  became  acquainted  years 
ago.  Tim  used  to  come  to  Forest  City  to  buy  cattle  for 
the  Menard  county  farmers,  and  he  asked  many  questions 
about  the  men  with  whom  he  became  acquainted  twenty 
years  ago.  Some  had  died,  others  were  still  alive,  but  not 
selling  cattle.  Same  old  Tim,  though  a  little  more  fleshy 
—  (feeding  out  of  the  public  crib  had  been  some  help  to 
him).  A  trip  to  the  court  house  to  see  Theo.  Bennett,  a 
schoolmate.  He  has  been  clerk  since  the  winter  of  the  deep 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  167 

snow,  and  as  a  Democrat,  never  dies  nor  resigns.  He 
will  hold  the  office  for  years  to  come.  The  county  officers 
have  cause  to  feel  proud  of  their  new  court  house.  All 
are  accommodated  with  good  rooms  with  all  conveniences 
in  modern  style.  Thanks  to  the  good  farmers  who  pay  taxes. 
We  called  on  Jasper  Rutledge,  the  newly  elected  sheriff, 
another  of  our  friends  of  pioneer  years.  Jasper  referred 
to  our  article  about  Jim  Berry's  hands  that  gave  the  woman 
so  much  trouble  at  the  campmeeting,  and  endorsed  what 
we  had  written  about  them.  If  I  were  a  citizen  of  Menard, 
a  good  comfortable  office  in  the  court  house,  with  it  guar- 
anteed for  twenty  years,  would  suit  me  first  rate. 

Wje  ran  across  Ed.  Laning,  and  he  insisted  on  our 
going  to  dinner  with  him  at  the  Smoot  Hotel.  We  had  been 
too  well  raised  to  decline.  Ed.  was  a  saucy  little  lad  when 
we  first  came  to  Petersburg  in  1840,  but  managed  to  keep 
up  with  the  rest  of  us  boys.  Ed.  referred  to  one  of  our 
letters  a  few  years  ago,  when  we  spoke  of  the  fine  residences 
around  on  the  hills  as  belonging  to  lawyers,  and  that  we 
had  said  that  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin,  yet  Solomon 
in  all  his  glory,  was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these.  Ed, 
said  it  was  true. 

Next  we  made  a  visit  to  our  old  home.  Sacrilegious 
hands  had  so  nearly  obliterated  the  original  design  that  we 
hardly  knew  it.  The  old  house  had  been  moved  back  and  a 
new  front  had  been  built.  Mrs.  Gibbs  kindly  showed  us  the 
old  part,  which  still  stands,  but  the  "old  home  ain't  what  it 
used  to  be."  We  met  many  old  friends. 

We  found  the  people  eager  for  our  writings.  "How 
long."  asked  one,  "are  you  going  to  keep  them  up?"  We 
told  him  that  we  were  like  Mary.  Her  mother  had  been 
chiding  her  about  kissing  John  so  much.  "Why,  mother," 
said  she,  "it  appears  to  do  him  so  much  good  and  it  does 
not  hurt  me  a  bit."  If  we  can  make  others  happy  and  it 
don't  discommode  us  any,  why  should  we  not  contribute  to 


1 68  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

their  happiness?  Life  is  short  at  the  farthest,  and  if  we 
can  strew  flowers,  instead  of  thorns,  we  should  do  so. 

We  have  been  writing  a  history  of  Mason  county  the 
past  year  and  expect  at  the  close  of  1900  to  put  it  in  book 
form,  and  will  sandwich  a  few  of  the  Menard  letters  in  the 
publication.  As  Andy  Johnson  once  said,  "Look  at  Peoria," 
so  I  say  look  at  Petersburg. 

Petersburg,  with  all  thy  faults,  I  love  thee  still. 


IN  MEMORIAM 

It  is  with  a  feeling  of  sadness  that  we  heard  of  the 
death  of  that  Christian  hero,  William  J.  Rutledge.  He  had 
lived  an  eventful  life,  but  the  battle  is  fought,  the  victory 
won  and  he  is  crowned  at  last. 

He  had  lived  his  four  score  years  and  was  ac- 
quainted with  the  majority  of  the  people  in  Central  Illinois. 
He  was  of  a  tall  commanding  appearance.  You  were  favor- 
ably impressed  with  him  at  first  sight.  He  was  the  oldest 
member  of  the  Illinois  conference.  He  entered  the  itinerant 
ranks  when  very  young  on  the  west  side  of  the  Illinois  river 
and,  like  Uncle  Dick  Haney,  was  a  connecting  link  of  the 
past  with  the  present. 

He  was  styled  the  poetic  preacher  and  could  repeat  the 
hymns  of  John  and  Charles  Wesley  to  a  finish.  He  was 
stationed  at  Havana  in  the  "fifties"  as  presiding  elder.  His 
parentage  dates  back  to  old  Virginia  and  three  generations 
back  to  the  Revolution. 

William  J.  Rutledge  possessed  all  the  characteristics  of 
a  pioneer  preacher.  In  his  early  ministry  he  preached  in  the 
log  cabins,  swam  rivers  to  get  to  his  appointments  and 
shared  all  the  privations  of  the  pioneer.  He  never  read  his 
sermons.  He  hadn't  time  to  read  them  for  the  lightning  of 
his  eye  went  flashing  along  from  pew  to  pew  nor  passed  a 
sinner  by. 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  169 

His  conversational  powers  were  greatly  above  the  aver- 
age and  it  was. a  very  unappreciative  audience  that  he  could 
not  interest.  As  a  chaplain  in  the  late  war  he  caught  the 
dying  messages  of  the  expiring  soldiers  and  transmitted 
them  to  their  friends  at  home.  He  was  one  of  Lincoln's 
most  trusted  friends  and  was  often  sent  on  an  errand  of 
great  importance.  Brave  as  a  lion  and  gentle  as  a  dove. 
He  commanded  the  respect  of  friend  and  foe. 

It  was  related  that  at  Vicksburg  he  went  out  to  have 
his  morning  devotion,  with  his  trusty  rifle  by  his  side,  and 
hearing  the  brush  make  a  noise,  he  saw  a  rebel  about  to  get 
the  drop  on  him,  but  Rutledge  was  to  quick  for  him  and  laid 
him  low  and  then  went  on  and  finished  his  prayer.  His 
whole  life  was  full  of  thrilling  incidents. 

I  don't  recollect  of  ever  meeting  a  more  sweet  spirited 
man  than  William  J.  Rutledge,  a  more  devout  Christian 
or  a  better  citizen  than  he  was.  But  he  is  gone  from  earth 
and  its  toils  and  cares.  And  when  the  roll  is  called  up  yon- 
der no  purer  or  brighter  spirit  than  William  J.  Rutledge  will 
answer  the  call. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

/ 

HISTORY  OF  PETERSBURG  SIXTY  YEARS  AGO 

N  1840  we  moved  to  Petersburg,  and  were  the 
first  to  leave  Salem.  In  that  year  more  than 
one-half  of  the  residents  of  Salem  moved  to 
Petersburg,  \vhere  the  county  seat  had  been 
located.  John  Taylor  had  secured  possession  of  the  land, 
and  the  price  of  a  lot  now  would  have  purchased  then  the 
best  eighty  acres  in  Menard  county.  My  father  bought  two- 
lots  in  the  branch  on  the  east  of  Bale's  carding  machine. 
The  branch  ran  through  the  center  of  the  lots,  taking  at 
least  one-third  of  the  ground.  Petersburg  was  then  the 
only  town  between  Havana  and  Springfield.  The  first  point 
of  interest  as  you  entered  the  town  from  the  south  was  the 
steam  mill,  which  was  built  somewhere  in  the  "thirties." 
The  engine  was  a  large  one,  and  was  taken  from  the 
steamer,  Talisman.  Its  cough  could  be  heard  for  a  mile. 
It  operated  a  sawmill  and  two  pair  of  buhrs.  The  first 
saw  was  an  up  and  down  pattern.  If  a  man  wanted  to 
build  in  the  spring  he  would  have  to  get  his  logs  to  the 
mill  the  winter  before.  A  couple  of  yoke  of  oxen  and  a 
bob-sled  was  the  means  of  hauling  them.  By  spring  several 
hundred  logs  would  cover  the  ground  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
mill.  The  miller  kept  several  yoke  of  oxen  to  draw  the 
logs  up  where  they  could  be  loaded  on  the  carriage.  He 
also  kept  a  large  cart  to  haul  logs  with  when  there  was  no 
snow  on  the  ground.  I  think  the  wheels  were  ten  feet  in 
diameter.  The  cart  would  straddle  over  a  log,  the  log  swung 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  171 

under  the  cart  near  the  middle,  so  that  it  would  not  bear 
much  on  the  ground.  The  logs  would  be  sawed  by  spring 
and  the  lumber  hauled  out  by  the  owner  and  stacked  up  to 
dry.  It  would  be  nearly  a  year  after  the  tree  was  cut  be- 
fore the  lumber  was  ready  for  the  carpenter.  It  cost  three 
times  as  much-  then  to  build  a  house  as  now,  where  all  the 
material  you  use  is  ready  to  be  put  together.  The  corner 
posts  of  a  h6use  in  early  times  was  8x8s,  and  it  would  take 
a  carpenter  a  day  to  make  one. 

The  grist  mill  was  in  an  ell  south  of  the  sawmill.  It 
would  now  be  considered  a  rough  affair.  For  flour  there 
was  a  pair  of  French  buhrs,  with  a  rude  bolting  machine. 
The  flour  came  out  in  a  long  box,  10  or  12  feet  long,  and 
when  the  grist  was  ground  the  miller,  with  his  paddle,  would 
cut  off  one-third.  This  was  fine  flour,  the  next  third  coarse 
and  the  last  was  the  shorts,  which  was  used  to  make  pan- 
cakes. If  we  had  been  good  children  through  the  week,  we 
would  have  biscuits  for  Sunday,  with  some  peach  preserve ; 
or  if  company  came  at  any  time  during  the  week  we  might 
have  some  biscuits,  but  the  corn  bread  dispensation  had  not 
then  expired.  When  I  mention  corn  bread  I  mean  corn 
dodgers,  and  as  I  told  you  in  a  former  article  what  corn 
dodgers  were  I  will  not  repeat  it. 

The  mill  stood  one  hundred  yards  south  of  the  elevator, 
and  there  were  no  houses  south  of  the  mill.  We  will  now 
skip  over  to  Main  Street,  and  commence  with  Chester  Moon, 
who  lived  on  top  of  the  hill  on  the  west  side  of  the  street. 
Moon  was  a  saloonkeeper  and  a  great  hunter.  Many  a 
large,  fat  buck  graced  his  table.  I  recollect  we  once  played 
a  joke  on  Moon.  Some  the  boys  had  a  jumper-sled  one 
winter  that  had  a  seat  dressed  with  deer  skin,  with  a  large 
pair  of  horns.  South  of  his  house  was  a  large  hazel  thicket ; 
we  located  the  dummy  deer  there  so  that  its  head  and  neck 
showed  plainly.  Moon  got  up  the  next  morning  and  soon 
discovered  the  deer ;  he  ran  for  his  rifle  and  shot  once,  twice 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

and  thrice  without  scaring  the  deer;  he  then  made  a  closer 
examination  and  found  that  he  had  been  fooled. 

A  little  farther  north  was  where  Chas.  Brooks  lived; 
he  was  a  tailor.  He  had  a  large  family.  Brooks  died  some 
thirty  years  ago,  while  Mrs.  Brooks  lived  many  years  after. 

Across  the  street  on  the  east  lived  A.  D.  Wright.  He 
was  a  man  of  some  prominence.  He  had  been  a  merchant, 
but  at  the  time  I  write  he  was  county  judge.  He  was  a  very 
popular  and  affable  man.  He  always  went  by  the  name  of 
A.  D.,  though  I  never  knew  what  A.  D.,  stood  for.  His 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  John  Cabanis,  of  Springfield.  Old 
man  Cabanis  was  a  strong  Whig,  while  Wright  and  Hiccox, 
his  son-in-laws,  were  Democrats.  Somebody  asked  him 
why  it  was  that  he,  being  a  Whig,  had  such  strong  Demo- 
crats for  son-in-laws?  Cabanis  replied  that  God  Almighty 
gave  him  his  daughters,  but  the  devil  gave  him  his  son-in- 
laws. 

The  next  house  north  of  Wright's  was  Kurd's.  He  was 
a  Fuller  by  trade,  and  had  come  to  Petersburg  to  work  for 
Hardin  Bale.  No  sooner  had  he  moved  in  town  than  I, 
who  was  a  Whig  politician,  interviewed  his  son,  Jewett,  as 
to  his  political  proclivities.  He  was  non-committal.  Not 
knowing  my  sentiments  he  remarked  that  "Our  family  don't 
take  sides." 

Across  the  street  was  Bale's  carding  machine,  which  was 
the  busiest  place  in  town.  It  was  a  large  two-story  build- 
ing and  I  think  it  fronted  on  Main  street  150  feet.  Every 
person  kept  sheep.  Store  clothes  had  not  then  come  into 
fashion.  The  sheep  would  be  sheared  by  the  first  of  June, 
and  the  wool  taken  to  the  carding  machine.  Bale  wrould  take 
toll  out  of  the  wool,  or  they  would  pay  cash  for  the  carding. 
The  wool  would  be  brought  tied  up  in  sheets  or  blankets, 
with  a  gallon  of  grease  for  every  ten  pounds  of  wool.  I 
ran  Bale's  picker  for  a  year  or  so.  The  picker  took  out  the 
dirt  and  burrs.  Bale  kept  adding  on  machinery  till  he  had 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  173 

quite  a  factory.  He  carded  the  wool,  spun,  wove  it,  filled  it 
and  colored  it;  then  run  it  through  his  shearer  and  took 
the  knap  off  of  it;  by  that  time  a  good  article  of  broad- 
cloth was  made.  In  the  meantime,  Bale's  factory  had  grown 
to  such  dimensions  that  a  steam  engine  was  added 
and  a  pair  of  French  buhrs,  and  Samuel  Hill  also 
became  a  partner.  A  large  business  was  done,  but  mis- 
fortune came  to  Hardin  Bale.  His  large  factory  was  con- 
sumed by  fire  with  not  much  insurance.  He  then  moved 
up  to  the  mouth  of  the  branch,  near  the  old  South  Valley 
coal  shaft.  Not  prospering  here  as  he  did  at  first  he  started 
for  Pike's  Peak,  with  machinery  to  work  for  gold,  but  be- 
fore he  got  there  he  met  hundreds  of  teams  returning.  He 
turned  back  and  as  he  was  crossing  .the  river  at  Beardstown 
his  machinery  was  sunk  in  the  river. 

West  of  Bale's  place  on  the  side  of  the  hill  lived  John 
Bennett.  He  was  one  of  Petersburg's  early  merchants.  He 
had  come  from  Virginia,  and  was  one  of  the  F.  P.  V.  John 
Bennett  once  represented  Menard  county  in  the  legislature 
and  also  filled  other  offices.  He  invited  the  legislature  once 
to  his  house.  I  helped  to  make  the  ice  cream  for  that 
honorable  body.  John  Bennett  was  a  good  citizen  and 
neighbor.  He  had  three  boys,  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry.  They 
\vere  my  schoolmates  and  were  good  boys.  Dick  was  tram- 
pled to  death  by  a  horse.  Tom  died  20  years  ago.  Harry 
kept  a  drug  store  in  Easton,  but  died  many  years  ago;  so 
the  family  of  John  Bennett  are  all  gone. 

Just  west  of  John  Bennett  lived  James  Carter.  He  was  a 
cabinetmaker.  In  those  days  there  was  plenty  of  good 
timber  in  the  county,  such  as  the  finest  walnut  trees,  lynn, 
birch,  birdseye  maple  and  cherry,  large  enough  for  table 
leaves.  I  have  seen  cherry  planks  three  feet  wide,  and  white 
walnut  was  a  very  fine  finishing  lumber. 

In  the  south  part  of  town  on  the  street  leading  towards 
the  river  in  the  early  "thirties,"  lived  James  Taylor,  a  son 


i/4  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

of  John  Taylor.  I  don't  think  he  followed  any  particular 
business;  he  appeared  to  be  a  gentleman  of  means.  He 
lived  there  several  years,  and  then  moved  back  to  Spring- 
field. He  was  a  lover  of  fine  horses,  and  generally  kept 
a  number  of  fine  rigs.  He  could  be  seen  when  the  sleighing 
was  good  with  a  load  of  school  children  taking  them  to 
school  or  bringing  them  home.  James  Taylor  lived  in  style 
and  was  a  gentleman  of  leisure.  He  also  extended  his 
courtesies  to  married  women  by  taking  them  driving,  a 
custom  which  we  think  has  gone  out  of  date. 

Among  the  early  inhabitants  of  the  south  end  of  town 
were  two  brothers,  George  and  Isam  Davidson.  George 
died  in  Mason  City  a  few  years  ago,  while  Isam  moved  to 
Lewistown  in  1841.  They  kept  store  in  Petersburg  in  1840. 
Isam  had  two  sons  who  made  their  mark  in  the  newspaper 
world  in  after  years.  James  Davidson,  trie  eldest,  was,  I 
think,  the  homliest  mortal  I  ever  saw.  His  mouth  was  on  the 
side  of  his  face  and  he  was  "real-footed"  in  both  feet.  He 
was  droll  in  his  manners,  but  a  splendid  writer  and  an  able 
editor.  After  spending  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  Lewis 
town,  he  moved  to  Carthage  and  published  the  Carthage 
Republican  till  the  day  of  his  death.  William  Davidson  still 
lives  in  Lewistown  and  is  proprietor  of  the  Fulton  Democrat, 
a  fearless  and  independent  Democratic  newspaper. 

The  Colby  Brothers,  wagonmakers,  lived  over  the 
branch,  just  west  of  the  C.  P.  &  St.  L.  railroad.  They 
came  in  an  early  day.  Near  by  was  the  blacksmith  shop  of 
Martin  Morris,  one  of  the  best  smiths  who  ever  hammered 
iron.  He  was  a  fine  worker  on  edge  tools.  After  he  quit 
the  shop  Robert  Bishop  used  it  for  a  gunsmith  shop.  Bishop 
made  rifles  form  the  raw  material  and  stocked  them. 

On  the  branch  lived  Henry  Onstot,  whose  dwelling  was 
on  the  south  side  of  the  branch,  and  whose  shop  was  on  the 
north  side.  He  often  worked  as  many  as  four  men  and  the 
surplus  work  of  his  shop  was  hauled  to  Springfield  or 
Beardstown. 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  175 

John  Taylor  had  a  packing  house  in  Petersburg  for 
several  years,  and  used  many  barrels  for  lard  and  hogs- 
heads for  shipping  bacon. 

Now  we  come  to  the  business  block  of  the  town.  Just 
north  of  Joseph  Pillsbury's  and  fronting  on  Main  Street 
is  where  all  the  stores  of  the  village  were  located.  For  a 
number  of  years  all  the  stories  in  town  were  in  this  block. 
On  the  south  corner  was  the  store  of  John  Taylor,  which 
was  the  largest  in  town.  The  main  salesman  in  this  store 
for  many  years  was  his  nephew,  James  Taylor,  and  cousin 
to  James  Taylor,  spoken  of  in  the  first  part  of  this  article. 
He  was  a  tall,  good-looking  man,  who  was  afterwards  elected 
sheriff  of  Menard  county,  but  did  not  live  long.  Tay- 
lor's store  was  well  stocked  with  the  kind  of  goods  used 
in  those  times.  Taylor  would  go  to  St.  Louis  twice  a  year, 
in  the  fall  and  spring.  After  he  had  been  a  week  a  number 
of  horse  and  ox  wagons  would  load  up  at  Petersburg  with 
bacon,  lard,  butter,  beeswax  and  whatever  produce  had  been 
taken  in  and  go  to  Beardstown,  where  is  would  be  shipped  to 
St.  Louis.  By  that  time  the  goods  would  arrive  at  Beards- 
town  and  would  be  brought  back  to  Petersburg.  It  would 
take  four  days  to  make  the  trip.  This  was  before  the  days 
of  railroads  and  the  present  generation  has  but  little  idea 
of  the  difficulties  their  fathers  had  to  endure.  Taylor's  store 
was  heated  by  a  large  fireplace  that  would  take  in  four  feet 
of  wood.  They  would  buy  hickory  wood,  ten  feet  long,  and 
James  Taylor  would  spend  his  spare  time  in  cutting  it. 
I  think  Taylor  had  the  largest  trade  in  the  town. 

The  next  room  on  the  north  was  kept  by  a  number  of 
persons.  The  first  persons  whom  I  recollect  were  the 
Davidson  Bros.,  George  and  Isam,  though  they  vacated  it 
in  1840.  George  was  very  careless  in  his  dress  and  man- 
ners, while  I.  G.,  as  Isam  was  familiarly  called,  was  the 
opposite.  I.  G.  kept  his  boots  so  black  and  slick  that  a  fly 
couldn't  light  on  them  and  stay  there.  One  day  his  son, 


176  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

James,  had  been  into  some  mischief,  and  his  father  got  after 
him  with  a  whip,  and  the  lad  ran,  jumped  out  into  a  mud- 
puddle  in  front  of  the  store,  where  he  dared  his  father  to 
come  after  him.  His  father  did  not  venture  into  the  mud. 

The  next  building  on  the  north  was  occupied  by  Sep- 
timus Levering,  when  first  built  as  a  store  room.  He  moved 
to  Springfield  about  the  time  the  county  seat  was  located 
at  Petersourg,  and  the  building  was  then  used  for  a  court 
house  for  several  years  and  became  a  historic  character. 
The  old  settlers  of  Menard  will  recollect  the  legal  battles 
that  were  fought  under  its  roof.  There  were  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, John  T.  Stewart,  Ben.  Edwards,  E.  D.  Baker,  Murray 
McConnell,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  and  a  number  of  other  in- 
tellectual giants  who  attended  court  in  those  early  days — 
men  who  had  won  their  spurs  in  many  a  legal  encounter. 
We  asked  Robert  T.  Lincoln  in  his  office  a  few  years  ago 
why  such  able  lawyers  did  not  practice  in  the  circuit 
courts  now,  and  he  said  the  reason  was  that  corporations 
and  railroads  retained  all  the  able  lawyers  for  their  own 
use.  Bob  at  that  time  was  attorney  for  the  Wabash  rail- 
road at  a  salary  of  $20,000  a  year.  The  house  was  small 
— about  20x40,  with  a  railing  that  cut  off  the  west  end  for 
the  judge  and  the  lawyers,  leaving  the  east  part  of  the 
house  for  the  audience.  This  house  served  the  county  till 
the  court  house  was  ready  in  1844.  Court  would  open  up 
Monday  afternoon,  after  the  lawyers  would  get  in  from 
Springfield,  and  would  be  ready  to  adjourn  by  Friday.  The 
old  court  house  was  used  for  religious  meetings.  Revs.  J. 
M.  Berry,  John  G.  White,  George  Barrett  and  numerous 
other  ministers  preached  there.  Political  meetings  were 
also  held  in  the  building.  It  was  the  only  place  in  town 
to  hold  public  gatherings  until  the  little  Presbyterian  Church 
was  built,  which  still  stands  north  of  Rule's  livery  barn. 
Yes,  the  old  court  house  has  a  history. 

The  next  building  north  of  the  court  house  was  occu- 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  177 

pied  by  Miles  &  McCoy.  Miles  moved  to  Petersburg  at 
an  early  day.  His  family  occupied  the  house  m  the  south 
part  of  the  town,  afterwards  occupied  by  Hardin  Bale.  He 
only  had  three  children.  James,  Elizabeth  and  Ann,  who 
became  the  wife  of  William  Herendon.  Lincoln's  law 
partner,  McCoy,  was  a  brother  of  Miles'  wife.  They  came 
from  near  Springfield  and  kept  a  good  stock  of  goods  and 
had  an  excellent  trade.  I  went  to  school  with  Miles' 
children.  After  going  out  of  the  merchandise  business, 
Miles  lived  in  Petersburg  till  his  death.  McCoy  went  back 
to  where  he  came  from. 

One  door  north  was  a  saloon  kept  by  a  man  named 
Adams,  which  did  not  have  a  very  good  reputation.  Many 
scenes  of  disorder  and  lawlessness  were  enacted  there.  For 
a  good  while  this  was  the  only  saloon  in  town,  and  as 
liquor  was  sold  in  most  of  the  stores  at  twenty-five  cents  a 
gallon  and  was  carried  home  and  drank  there,  people  did 
not  like  to  pay  ten  cents  a  drink  for  it,  yet  on  public  days 
the  saloon  was  liberally  patronized.  Men  would  get  drunk 
and  raise  a  fuss  under  the  slightest  pretext,  and  fight  and 
brawl  with  their  neighbors. 

In  the  north  corner  of  the  block  James  and  William 
Hoey,  two  Irishmen  from  the  ould  sod  of  Ireland,  for 
years  kept  store.  They  were  both  bachelors,  and  kept  their 
stock  of  goods  in  the  front  part  of  the  house.  The  two 
were  as  different  as  brothers  could  be.  William' was  a  get-up 
and  dust  fellow,  and  was  the  business  man  of  the  firm.  He 
was  rather  rough  in  his  manner,  while  his  brother,  James, 
was  a  refined  gentleman.  James  was  the  "best  man"  at 
the  wedding  of  Tarleton  Lloyd  and  Catherine  Keltner  at 
Salem,  spoken  of  in  a  former  letter.  The  Hoeys  had  for 
a  housekeeper  a  large,  fat  Irish  maid,  who  went  by  the 
name  of  Becky  Hoey.  She  done  their  cooking,  washing  and 
other  work. 

Across  the  street  opposite  Hoeys  lived  Dr.  Richard  Ben- 
nett, a  brother  of  John  Bennett.  The  Bennetts  had  come 

12 


1 78 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 


from  Virginia  before  1840.  Dr.  Bennett  kept  a  hotel  for 
many  years,  and  practiced  medicine  in  the  early  days.  He 
raised  quite  a  family.  His  eldest  son  was  named  Sandy. 
He  died  in  the  early  days,  while  Theodore  still  survives  and 
has  held  the  office  of  circuit  clerk  for  the  past  twenty-four 
years.  Dr.  Bennett  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  the 
community  for  twenty  years. 

In  the  same  block  was  a  two-story  house,  where  Chester 
Moon  kept  a  saloon,  and  Rial  Clary  succeeded  him. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
EARLY  TIMES  IN  THE  CAPITAL  OF  MENARD 

HILE  Salem  was  settled  mostly 'by  Kentuckians, 
Petersburg  had  a  mixed  population  from  all 
the  states,  though  the  Hoeys  were  the  only 
ones  from  the  old  country,  except  John  Warn- 
sing,  who  was  from  Germany.  He  lived  with  the  Taylors 
and  was  the  only  German  in  the  county,  with  the  exception 
of  Peter  Brahm,  who  lived  north  of  Petersburg,  near  Con- 
cord. He  had  three  children — Thomas,  Nancy  and  John 
A.  Brahm,  so  well  known  in  Petersburg  in  after  years. 
I  forgot  to  mention  Jacob  Laning,  who  lived  in  the  south 
part  of  Petersburg.  He  was  a  tailor  by  trade,  and  run  a 
shop.  Tailors  made  all  the  clothing  then.  Charlie  Brooks 
and  Jacob  Laning  had  all  the  work  they  could  do.  No 
merchant  kept  clothing  then  as  now,  but  kept  an  assort- 
ment of  broadcloths  and  other  woolen  goods.  I  have  seen 
overcoats  made  out  of  red  and  white  woolen  blankets,  but 
the  most  of  the  clothing  was  made  out  of  Fuller's  cloth, 
which  was  flannel  beat  up  till  thirty  yards  was  beat  into 
twenty  yards,  and  then  colored  as  the  owner's  taste  might 
suggest.  The  every  day  clothing  was  made  of  Kentucky 
jeans  at  home  by  the  good  housewife.  Dudley  McAtee 
was  a  journeyman  tailor  who  worked  for  Brooks  &  Laning. 
He  was  afterwards  elected  sheriff  of  Menard  county,  and 
married  Martha  Goodman. 

On  the  corner  north  of  where  the  Baptist  Church  now 
stands  lived  Nathan  Dresser,  who  was  the  first  circuit  clerk. 


180  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

He  was  from  old  Virginia,  and  his  wife  was  a  sister  of 
John  Bennett.  Dresser  was  a  finely  educated  man  and  a 
gentleman  in  any  crowd.  He  had  no  children.  His  brother, 
Henry  Dresser,  built  the  court  house.  Another  brother, 
Charles  Dresser,  of  Springfield,  was  an  Episcopal  preacher, 
and  often  preached  in  Petersburg.  I  well  recollect  the  re- 
sponsive reading  at  his  meetings :  "As  it  was  from  the  be- 
ginning and  is  now  and  evermore  shall  be,  amen  and 
amen."  *  *  * 

John  McNeal  lived  across  the  street  from  Dresser.  He 
was  a  prominent  member  of  the  M.  E.  Church  and  was 
also  a  tailor.  He  came  from  Virginia.  His  neighbors 
did  not  like  him  because  he  was  so  cruel  to  a  bound  boy 
he  had,  by  the  name  of  William  Davidson.  On  the  slightest 
pretext  he  would  beat  the  boy,  and  his  neighbors  finally  took 
the  boy's  part  and  gave  McNeal  to  understand  that  the  boy 
should  have  better  treatment.  He  had  come  from  a  slave 
state,  and  had  been  used  to  negroes.  McNeal' s  residence 
was  in  the  south  corner  of  the  block,  while  Hill's  store 
was  in  the  north  corner,  and  still  survives  the  wreck  of 
time  and  stands  today  as  it  did  sixty-five  years  ago,  though 
it  now  would  be  considered  a  small,  unpretentious  building. 
It  was,  when  built,  a  large  and  roomy  house  that  Hill  had 
moved  down  from  Salem  in  the  spring  of  1840.  He  had 
been  a  mercantile  king  in  Salem,  and  generally  had  things 
his  own  way.  His  house  was  the  first  store  on  the  public 
square,  and  with  the  commencement  of  the  building  of  the 
court  house  all  the  business  houses  of  the  town  began  to 
cluster  around  that  building.  Hill  lived  in  the  south  part 
of  his  building,  and  used  the  upper  part  for  his  residence. 
Here  he  accumulated  a  fortune.  He  assisted  Hardin  Bale 
in  his  manufactory  of  cloths  and  added  a  flouring  mill  to 
the  machinery.  Samuel  Hill  only  had  one  child,  John,  who 
died  in  Georgia  a  few  years  ago,  while  his  wife,  whose 
maiden  name  was  Parthena  Nance,  died  a  year  later.  She 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  181 

was  married  to  Hill  in  1837,  and  was  a  noble  woman.  She 
will  long  be  remembered  for  her  good  works. 

The  first  brick  stores  built  on  the  square  was  a  double 
building  about  the  middle  of  the  block.  The  south  room 
was  built  by  John  Bennett  and  the  north  room  by  John 
Warnsing.  Bennett's  was  occupied  by  Wm.  Cowgill  and 
Warnsing's  by  Tilton  McNeely,  father  of  Thompson  W. 
McNeely,  still  a  resident  of  the  'Burg.  These  two  stores, 
with  Hill's,  did  most  of  the  business  of  the  country  at 
that  time,  though  their  goods  would  be  considered  incom- 
plete at  this  day. 

The  next  prominent  house  on  the  square  was  Bennett'-; 
Hotel,  which  was  on  the  east  side,  in  the  middle  of  the 
block.  It  was  built  in  1844;  as  before  mentioned  it  took 
about  a  year  to  get  the  lumber  ready  for  the  house.  Ben- 
nett commenced  in  1843;  had  his  finishing  lumber  sawed  at 
Shirley's  mill  on  Rock  Creek,  near  the  Sangamon  river. 
The  lumber  was  built  up  in  a  dry  kiln,  and  a  fire  kept  up  day 
and  night  for  several  weeks.  The  lumber  was  mostly  white 
walnut,  which  comes  the  nearest  to  pine  of  any  of  our  native 
timbers.  For  his  flooring  he  had  white  and  red  oak ;  for 
siding  black  walnut.  Bennett  had  nearly  ten  thousand  feet 
of  lumber  in  the  dry  kiln,  and  they  had  kept  up  the  fire 
in  the  kiln  for  nearly  four  weeks,  when  one  morning,  Eng- 
lish John,  who  had  charge  of  it,  stirred  up  the  fire  and  added 
new  fuel,  when  a  spark  got  into  the  fuzzy  lumber  and  in  an 
instant  the  lumber  went  up  in  smoke.  As  the  kiln  was  near 
my  father's  cooper  shop  I  was  at  the  fire.  The  loss  to 
Bennett  was  great,  but  nothing  daunted  him  and  he  went  to 
work  and  built  the  hotel  the  next  season.  The  old  Menard 
House  still  stands  as  a  monument  to  the  energy  of  John 
Bennett.  It  was  here  at  the  stable  that  his  son,  Dick,  was 
trampled  to  death  while  attending  to  the  horses.  It  was 
at  this  hotel  that  Bennett's  wife  died.  She  was  a  sister 
of  Alex  and  Phil  Rainey.  She  was  a  good  woman,  as 


182  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

hundreds  of  her  neighbors  and  acquaintances  can  testify. 
Besides  Dr.  Bennett,  John  had  another  brother,  Wm.  Ben- 
nett, who  was  a  bachelor  and  was  engaged  in  making  brick. 
He  had  been  in  business  and  failed,  and  finally  moved  to 
Texas,  the  last  I  heard  of  him. 

John  B.  Gum  was  then  a  young  man,  and  was  county 
surveyor.  He  built  a  two-story  house  on  the  northeast 
corner  of  the  public  square,  and  for  many  years  was  an 
influential  man  in  the  county.  He  had  a  large  tract  of  land 
in  Mason  county,  near  Kilbourne,  and  died  a  few  years  ago 
at  Havana.  So  one  by  one  the  old  landmarks  of  Menard 
are  removed  by  death. 

Down  southeast  of  the  square  lived  Dr.  Regnier.  He 
moved  to  town  from  Clary's  Grove.  He  was  a  very  witty 
and  eccentric  man ;  had  a  large  family  of  girls  and  one  boy. 
He  was  a  fleshy  man,  rather  above  the  average  size,  and  his 
wit  was  always  available.  One  time  his  horse  ran  away  with 
his  sulky.  The  doctor  threw  out  his  leg  against  a  sapling 
to  stop  the  horse,  and  as  a  consequence  his  leg  was  broken. 
When  the  leg  was  being  set  the  doctor  kept  an  uproar  of 
laughter  by  his  witty  remarks.  Dr.  Regnier  lived  and  died 
at  his  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Sangamon.  He  had  a 
large  share  of  the  county  practice.  A  cabinetmaker  by 
the  name  of  Wm.  Humphrey  lived  neighbor  to  Regnier  at 
that  time,  and  James  G.  Davis  occupied  the  two-story  house 
north  of  the  doctor's  premises.  The  town  at  this  time  be- 
gan to  build  up,  and  around  the  public  square  business 
houses  began  to  loom  up  on  all  sides. 

The  contract  for  the  court  house  was  let  in  1842.  No 
pine  was  used  as  finishing  lumber.  The  stone  for  the 
foundation  was  furnished  by  Isaac  Cogdal  and  was  brought 
from  Rock  Creek.  He  had  a  number  of  ox  teams  and  there 
was  probably  one  hundred  loads  used.  The  brick  was  made 
in  the  north  part  of  town  by  Charles  Goodman  and  Bill 
Bennett.  It  took  two  years  to  finish  the  structure,  and  it 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  183 

was  considered  a  fine  building  at  the  time  it  was  built,  but 
it  outlived  its  usefulness  and  for  many  years  before  the 
present  beautiful  structure  was  built  was  an  eyesore  to  the 
people. 

Another  two-story  building  was  set  on  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  square.  It  was  the  old  Park  House,  used  by 
John  Taylor  in  1842.  Before  that  date  Chester  Moon  and 
Rial  Clary  had  kept  saloon  in  it.  It  was  moved  down  and 
fitted  up  for  a  store  room,  and  Elijah  Taylor  used  it  for  a 
number  of  years. 

West  of  the  court  house,  back  of  Main  Street,  lived 
Alex  Trent.  He  was  a  carpenter  by  trade,  but  did  nor 
work  much  at  his  trade.  He  had  a  large  business.  One  of 
his  sons  was  a  tailor.  His  name  was  Anderson.  He  went 
to  the  Mexican  war,  and  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Cerro 
Gordo.  He  was  a  fine  looking  man,  of  a  good  character 
and  was  well  respected  by  all  who  knew  him.  The  next 
son  was  Ashby,  who  was  more  on  the  rowdy  order ;  was  a 
very  strong  and  athletic  fellow,  and  could  whip  his  weight 
in  wildcats,  but  his  manner  of  life  told  on  him  and  he 
died  at  an  early  day.  Hugh  and  Wemps  Trent  were  the 
other  two  boys.  His  girls  were  Nancy  and  Bell.  The 
latter  married  Robert  Moore,  but  got  a  divorce  and  then 
married  Wm.  Webb,  and  is  yet  living.  Alex  Trent  used  to 
be  a  witness  on  both  sides  of  every  case.  He  would  have 
a  talk  with  one  side  and  then  tell  the  other  side  what  he 
heard,  so  both  side  would  have  him  subpoenaed. 

Where  the  Methodist  parsonage  now  stands  lived  Abra- 
ham Goodpasture,  a  Cumberland  preacher.  He  came  from 
Tennessee,  and  married  Dulcena  Williams.  He  bought 
eighty  acres  of  land  in  the  bottoms,  where  the  railroad 
bridge  crosses  the  river.  I  worked  two  years  for  him  and 
he  always  aimed  to  get  the  worth  of  his  money  out  of  me. 
Great  crops  of  corn  were  raised  in  the  bottom  land,  though 
it  overflowed  every  spring.  I  think  the  water  in  1844  was 


184  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

six  feet  deep  all  over  the  land,  and  no  crop  was  raised  that 
year.  A  man  could  start  at  coal  branch  and  go  up  through 
Goodpasture's  land ;  then  run  through  Bennett  Abie's  farm, 
and  land  near  Bowling  Green's  house.  All  the  rails  would 
be  carried  down  and  landed  in  the  drifts  across  the  river 
from  Petersburg.  It  seems  as  though  the  river  used  to  get 
higher  in  early  days  than  at  present. 


PETERSBURG  IN  THE  FORTIES 

Up  the  hill  west  of  the  square  a  little  south  of  the  street 
was  the  little  school  house  where  C.  B.  Waldo  taught  the 
first  school.  It  was  a  house  about  twenty-four  feet  square, 
and  was  reached  by  a  circuitous  route  among  the  hazel 
brush.  Here  some  of  the  most  brilliant  minds  of  Peters- 
burg were  educated.  I  call  to  mind  the  Brooks  family, 
the  Lanings,  the  Miles,  the  Trents,  the  Greens,  the  Elmores, 
the  Bales,  the  Bennetts,  the  Davidsons,  the  Wrights,  the 
Hurds,  and  many  others  who  laid  the  foundations  of  their 
future  greatness  here.  It  was  a  mixed  school  that  Waldo 
taught.  He  had  the  primary  class,  the  intermediate  and 
Latin  pupils.  There  was  no  free  money  to  carry  on  the 
schools  then.  The  patrons  of  the  school  would  sign  for  a 
certain  number  of  pupils  for  sixty  days  at  $3  each,  then 
they  would  send  all  their  children  and  the  number  of  days 
would  be  divided  by  sixty  and  the  amount  apportioned  ac- 
cordingly. There  was  no  elaborate  furniture  in  the  old 
school  house.  On  the  south  side  there  was  a  writing  desk 
that  extended  across  the  end  of  the  house,  and  benches 
around  the  house  for  the  larger  pupils  and  benches  in  the 
middle  for  the  smaller  ones.  Waldo  was  supreme  ruler  of 
the  school.  He  was  a  good-natured  man  and  had  but  littie 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  185 

difficulty  in  controlling  the  school.  If  a  pupil  was  very  bad 
and  would  not  be  reproved  after  a  sufficient  length  of  time 
he  would  be  dismissed.  I  dont'  recollect  but  one  pupil  who 
was  sent  home.  After  a  few  weeks,  if  the  pupil  would 
promise  to  do  better,  he  would  be  re-instated.  Waldo's 
school  had  an  average  of  fifty  pupils,  and  he  would  teach 
eight  months  a  year.  He  finally  moved  to  Mason  county 
and  from  there  went  south  where  he  died  forty  years  ago. 

North  of  the  public  square  commenced  to  build  up  with 
the  erection  of  the  court  house.  The  large  brick  house 
east  of  the  Smoot  Hotel  was  built  by  G.  U.  Miles,  and 
was  at  that  time  considered  the  best  house  in  town.  The 
little  one-story  board  house  next  to  the  depot  was  built, 
by  James  Miles.  Edward  Elam  built  a  blacksmith  shop 
one  block  north  of  the  court  house.  This  was  a  place  of 
some  importance.  After  he  moved  away  his  son,  W.  P. 
Elam,  carried  on  the  business.  He  lived  west  of  the  house 
on  the  street  that  ran  up  Tan  Yard  Hollow. 

John  Bennett  built  the  first  tan  yard.  It  was  just  north 
of  where  the  Christian  Church  now  stands.  There  was 
about  a  dozen  vats.  They  were  ten  feet  square  and  ten 
feet  deep.  The  hides  were  put  in,  then  the  bark  was  ground 
fine  and  a  layer  of  bark  on  the  hides,  then  another  layer  of 
hides,  and  so  on,  till  the  vat  was  full.  The  vats  would  be 
filled  in  the  fall,  and  would  be  tanned  in  a  year  and  then 
taken  to  a  shoemaker. 

West  of  Bennett's  tan  yard,  there  was  another  yard 
belonging  to  James  Anno  and  his  brother,  Tallard.  They 
were  young  men  and  had  just  come  from  Kentucky.  They 
afterwards  bought  out  Bennett  and  run  both  yards. 

Tan  bark  was  ground  in  a  very  crude  way.  A  wooden 
wheel  ten  feet  in  diameter  and  two  feet  broad,  with  a  shaft 
through  the  center,  was  set  perpendicular  and  the  bark  laid 
in  a  circular  form.  A  horse  was  hitched  to  one  end  of  the 
shaft,  and  a  boy  for  a  driver,  the  wheel  would  roll  around 


1 86  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

over  the  bark  until  it  was  ground  fine.  The  outside  of  the 
wheel  was  filled  with  cogs  that  ground  the  bark.  The  hides 
were  tanned  in  coal  ooze. 

The  road  up  Tan  Yard  Hollow  was  a  gradual  incline, 
and  was  the  best  road  that  came  to  town  from  the  west. 
All  the  other  roads  came  down  a  steep  hill. 

Dr.  Allen  came  to  Menard  county  as  early  as  1834,  and 
settled  in  Salem,  where  he  lived  six  years.  He  was  not  a 
strong  man  physically,  but  did  more  to  make  the  character 
of  the  people  than  any  living  man.  He  moved  to  Peters- 
burg in  1840,  and  moved  down  the  house  in  which  he  lived. 
It  was  situated  north  of  where  the  Christian  Church  stands. 
The  doctor  was  an  active  worker  in  the  Presbyterian  Chruch. 
He  had  hardly  pitched  his  tent  in  Salem  when  there  was 
preaching  at  his  house,  and  he  had  not  lived  in  Petersburg 
but  a  few  years  when  he  had  a  Presbyterian  Church  erected. 
It  was  a  small  frame  house  and  is  now  used  by  S.  B. 
Bryant  as  a  paint  shop,  north  of  Rule's  livery  stable.  This 
was  the  only  church  building  in  town  until  the  Methodist 
Church  was  built  on  the  spot  where  the  new  church  now 
stands.  Dr.  Allen  did  not  live  in  his  many  years,  but  built 
the  large  brick  residence  on  the  hill  on  the  site  where  stands 
Hon.  N.  W.  Branson's  residence.  The  house  was  large 
and  commodious  and  was  always  open  to  his  friends.  Dr. 
Allen  had  the  largest  practice  of  all  the  doctors  and  was  a 
good  collector.  In  the  winter  he  would  take  dressed  hogs 
on  his  bills  and  would  get  two  or  three  hundred  hogs  at 
$1.50  to  $2  per  hundred  weight.  He  would  barrel  up 
the  lard  and  make  bacon  of  the  hogs,  and  by  spring  would 
have  one  thousand  dollars  worth  of  provisions  to  take  to 
St.  Louis,  hauling  it  to  Beardstown  and  by  steamboat  to 
St.  Louis.  By  this  way  he  would  collect  most  of  his  bills. 
He  doctored  in  the  old  style  with  calomil.  If  he  had  a  bad 
case  the  patient  was  most  always  salivated. 

The  old-fashioned  way  of  medical  practice  would  now 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  187 

seem  very  cruel  and  the  practitioner  would  be  liable  to  be 
indicted  for  cruelty  to  animals.  Doctor  Allen's  first  wife 
was  Margaret  Moore,  and  his  second  wife  was  a  Chand- 
ler. I  think  Dr.  Allen  died  somewhere  near  1860. 

Peter  Lukins  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Petersburg*. 
He  wras  a  shoemaker.  His  dwelling  was  west  of  the  court 
house.  I  remember  it  because  it  was  plastered  outside,  and 
I  think  the  only  house  of  that  kind  in  the  'Burg.  Lukins 
was  addicted  to  drink,  and  was  subject  to  attacks  of  delirium 
tremens.  He  had  a  brother  Jesse  who  went  to  the  Mexican 
war  and  was  killed.  Gregory  Lukins,  his  brother,  married 
his  widow,  and  died  in  Sugar  Grove  about  fifteen  years  ago. 
Peter  Lukins  committed  suicide  while  on  a  drunken  spree. 

From  1840  to  1845  the  north  part  of  Petersburg  began 
to  grow  in  the  extreme  north,  where  Dr.  Antle  lived. 
John  Wright  moved  here  in  1842.  He  had  a  contract  to 
build  the  first  bridge  across  the  river,  and  moved  from 
Sugar  Grove  'for  that  purpose.  The  bridge  was  a  very 
clumsy  affair.  Mudsills  were  sunk  in  the  earth  of  a  large 
dimension  and  then  bents  with  four  posts,  twelve  inches 
square,  with  a  cap  on  top  twelve  inches  square,  were  placed, 
then  stringers  lengthwise  and  a  floor  of  two-inch  plank,  with 
heavy  railing,  completed  the  first  bridge  across  the  Sanga- 
mon  river,  north  of  Springfield.  This  bridge  settled  the 
navigation  of  the  river,  as  no  steamboat  could  go  under 
the  bridge.  After  John  Wright  completed  the  bridge  he 
still  remained  in  Petersburg  and  was  a  good,  influential 
citizen.  I  think  Tilton  McNeely  married  one  of  Wright's 
daughters. 

Wm.  Cowgill  was  one  of  the  merchants  from  1843.  He 
occupied  a  double  store  house  on  the  west  side  of  the  square, 
owned  by  John  Bennett,  while  McNeely  occupied  the  build- 
ing owned  by  John  Warnsing.  On  the  south  end  of 
Cowgill's  store  was  a  ball  alley,  in  which  games  were  played 
all  through  the  summer  months.  I  believe  the  game  has 


i88  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

gone  out  of  date.  It  was  a  very  exciting  game  and  full  of 
exercise.  Two  or  four  persons  could  play  the  game. 

Charles  Goodman  made  brick  on  the  branch  in  the 
north  part  of  town  for  many  years.  Wm.  Bennett  was  his 
partner.  They  furnished  brick  for  the  court  house  and  all 
the  other  brick  buildings  in  Petersburg.  Goodman  furnished 
the  brick  for  Russell  Godby's  house,  near  New  Market, 
going  over  there  and  making  the  brick  on  the  place. 

In  an  early  day  Thomas  L.  Harris  came  to  Petersburg. 
He  was  a  slender  built  man,  and  was  reading  law.  Haijis' 
ability  was  soon  recognized,  as  he  was  no  ordinary  man, 
but  poor  and  had  a  hard  struggle  to  make  enough  to  pay 
his  board.  I  have  seen  him  go  out  and  work  in  the  hay 
field  to  get  money  to  pay  his  board.  He  had  another  thing 
to  contend  with.  He  was  a  Democrat,  while  most  of  the 
leading  men  at  that  time  were  Whigs,  who  were  disposed 
to  boycott  him  on  account  of  his  politics.  He  went  to  the 
Mexican  war,  was  a  brave  soldier  and  was  made  a  major, 
and  after  he  came  home  he  was  elected  to  Congress,  but  as 
he  had  contracted  disease  while  in  the  army,  he  died  while  a 
member  of  Congress.  A  man  of  spotless  character,  and  as 
popular  a  man  as  ever  lived  in  Petersburg.  The  old  set- 
tlers delight  to  talk  of  Thomas  L.  Harris. 

Joseph  Pearson  lived  north  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 
He  had  a  yoke  of  oxen  and  a  cart,  and  hauled  cord  wood 
to  town  for  a  living,  and  at  times  done  hauling  of  various 
kinds. 

Daniel  Staton  was  an  all  around  man,  and  was  useful  as 
well  as  ornamental.  He  done  the  hog  killing  for  the  neigh- 
bors, and  here  let  me  remark  that  hog  and  hominy  were  the 
chief  articles  of  diet  in  early  days.  I  think  the  people  used 
five  pounds  of  pork  then,  where  they  now  use  a  pound. 
It  was  before  the  days  of  meat  shops  and  nearly  every  per- 
son had  a  few  hogs. 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  189. 


OLD  FASHIONED  BARBECUES 

Away  back  in  the  "forties"  it  was  customary  once  a 
year  to  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July.  We  did  not  then  have 
as  many  important  days  as  now.  The  Constitution  and  the 
immortal  Declaration  of  Independence  meant  something 
then.  There  has  been  so  many  startling  events  since  that 
I  fear  we  have  forgotten  the  truths  that  our  fathers  taught 
us,  but  our  Government  was  founded  with  a  Declaration 
of  Sovereign  Rights,  and  God  grant  that  we  may  never 
forget  the  grand  lives  found  in  these  important  Magna 
Chartas.  And  the  people  met  once  a  year  to  talk  over  the 
heroic  deeds  of  their  fathers,  to  sing  patriotic  songs  and  to 
have  a  good  time.  Generally  several  weeks  before  the  Fourth 
of  July  a  subscription  would  be  started.  One  person 
would  contribute  a  two-year-old  heifer,  another  a  fine  shoat 
and  some  turkeys,  one  person  a  few  loaves  of  bread,  some 
a  dozen  pies  and  so  it  would  go  till  a  dozen  beeves  and  a 
dozen  shoats  and  everything  else  would  swell  the  eatables 
so  that  the  multitude  could  be  easily  fed. 

Then  a  number  of  men  to  cook  the  meat  would  be  named. 
I  recollect  that  Jim  Clemens,  who  lived  near  George  Spears,, 
was  generally  commander-in-chief.  Long  trenches,  about 
three  feet  wide  and  two  feet  deep,  would  be  dug,  in  which 
fires  would  be  placed  the  day  before  and  on  the  morning 
of  the  Fourth  would  be  nearly  red  hot.  The  beef  would 
be  put  over  the  fire,  hanging  on  long  iron  rods  in  quarters. 
The  pigs  would  be  fixed  the  same  way  and  the  cooking  would 
begin.  General  Clemens  would  give  orders  to  his  subordi- 
nates to  turn  the  beef  and  pork  every  five  minutes  and  a  large 
jar  of  melted  butter  was  on  hand,  well  melted,  and  each 
cook  had  a  swab  with  which  he  could  baste  the  meat  while 
it  was  cooking.  The  farmers' v  wives  would  arrive  with 
their  share  of  the  bread  and  pies  and  cakes  and  a  number 
of  tables  owuld  be  arranged  to  accommodate  the  crowd. 


190  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

About  i  p.  m.  everything  would  be  ready.  The  seats 
were  properly  distributed  and  the  citizens  from  all  over  the 
country  had  begun  to  arrive.  The  marshalls,  with  their 
red  sashes,  were  galloping  around  town  with  all  the  style 
of  warriors.  Andy  Moor,  of  Indian  Point,  was  a  military 
man.  With  his  old  dilapidated  silk  hat,  with  a  red  plume 
about  eighteen  inches  high,  marshaled  the  marshals  with 
as  much  dignity  as  a  Roman  general  and  would  land  the 
delegation  at  the  speaker's  stand,  where  some  Springfield 
orator  would  deliver  an  oration.  It  was  sometimes  the 
silver  tongued  E.  D.  Baker,  and  sometimes  the  lamented 
Thomas  L.  Harris.  Before  the  oration  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  read. 

This  was  an  important  part  of  the  program,  because  the 
reader  was  to  read  it  loud  and  clear,  so  all  could  hear  it, 
as  he  read : 

"All  Governments  derive  their  consent  from  the  gov- 
erned," or  "All  men  are  entitled  to  life,  liberty  and  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness."  These  immortal  truths  were  believed 
in  and  was  the  base  on  which  the  structure  was  built. 

At  the  dinner,  which  was  always  conducted  in  good 
order,  some  old  venerable  divine  invoked  the  blessing  on 
the  repast.  The  orations  gave  the  orator  some  standing  in 
the  community. 

I  recollect  once  in  1842  attending  a  celebration  in  Clary's 
Grove,  in  Robert  Conover's  pasture,  which  was  equal  to  any 
held  in  Petersburg.  Being  in  a  good  settlement  the  farmers 
contributed  liberally  to  the  dinner.  After  it  was  over  toasts 
were  in  order,  one  of  which  I  well  recollect,  as  follows : 

Should  British  Lion  ever  roam, 

Beyond  his  beaten  track; 

The  American  Eagle,  with  beak  of  steel, 

Will  pounce  upon  his  back, 

Pick  out  his  eyes  and  cry:   ' '  'Tis  fun !  " 

In  those  early  days  there  were  two  old  soldiers,  who  had 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  191 

fought  for  their  country.  One  was  Daddy  Roger,  who 
lived  in  Wolf,  and  the  other  was  the  father  of  James 
Short,  who  lived  north  of  Petersburg.  These  old  persons 
were  always  at  the  barbecue  and  were  accorded  a  seat  of 
honor  on  the  speaker's  stand  and  at  the  tables. 

Barbecues  have  had  their  day.  They  belong  to  the  old 
dispensation.  They  were  a  kin  to  campmeetings  and  regi- 
mental musters.  After  dinner  was  over  then  many  of  the 
men  got  drunk  or  engaged  in  running  or  jumping  or  feats 
of  strength.  There  was  a  cannon  out  of  the  shaft  of  the 
Talisman  that  was  six  inches  thick  and  five  feet  long,  with 
a  two  inch  bore  that  weighed  five  hundred  pounds.  This 
tested  a  man's  strength  to  shoulder  it,  and  very  few  could 
do  it.  I  have  seen  Conover  Gum  and  some  of  the  Bond 
boys  nearly  strained  their  gizzards  out  in  trying  to  shoulder 
it. 

It  was  the  custom  of  the  country  boys,  before  they  went 
home,  to  go  in  swimming.  They  always  rode  their  three- 
year-old  colts.  They  always  found  water  below  the  water 
works  to  swim  their  horses  and  so  the  time  was  taken  up 
at  the  barbecue  till  sundown  and  all  then  departed  for  home 
with  the  satisfaction  of  pulling  the  tail  of  the  eagle  and 
helping  to  make  him  scream. 


CHAPTER  XVIII.  . 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF  PRESIDENTIAL  CAMPAIGNS 

"TIPPECANOE  AND  TYLER  TOO." 

HE  FIRST  presidential  campaign  I  remember 
was  that  of  1840,  when  Harrison  was  sung 
into  the  presidential  chair.  The  questions  at 
issue  I  do  not  remember,  except  that  Harrison 
lived  in  a  log  cabin,  drank  hard  cider  and  sold  coon  skins. 
There  were  great  gatherings  that  year.  The  excitement 
was  at  fever  heat  and  even  the  little  cubs  were  singing  the 
praises  of  hard  cider.  If  a  person  moved  into  the  com- 
munity it  was  necessary  to  know  his  politics  in  order  to 
determine  his  standing. 

A  number  of  big  meetings  were  held  in  Springfield  and 
Jacksonville  that  year.  Bands  of  singers  would  attend  and 
make  the  welkin  ring  with  their  campaign  songs,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  specimen : 

Come  all  ye  brave  lads  of  old  forty 
Who  rallied  around  Tippecanoe; 
Come  give  us  your  hearts  and  your  voices 
For  great  Harry,  the  noble  and  true. 

The  Whigs  carried  the  day,  but  Harrison  died  soon  after 
being  elected  and  John  Tyler  succeeded  him  in  the  presi- 
dential chair.  No  Vice-President  that  ever  took  the  chair 
ever  gave  satisfaction  to  the  party  that  elected  him  and 
Tyler  was  no  exception.  Millard  Fillmore  turned  against 
his  party  and  the  Republicans  would  have  crucified  Andy 
Johnson  if  they  had  dared. 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  195 


POLK    AND    TAXES. 

Nothing  of  much  interest  occurred  from  1840  till  1844, 
when  the  slave  power  needed  more  territory  for  the  expan- 
sion of  slavery.  "Polk  and  Texas !"  was  the  cry  and  singing 
didn't  count.  The  country  was  ready  for  the  annexation  of 
Texas.  Texas  was  then  an  independent  province  that  for- 
merly belonged  to  Mexico,  but  had  gained  independence, 
with  the  Rio  Grande  for  its  western  boundary  and  had 
never  claimed  territory  further  west. 

"Polk  and  Texas"  were  triumphant,  and  the  slave 
power,  flushed  with  success,  sent  an  army  two  hundred 
miles  west  of  the  Rio  Grande,  on  Mexican  soil,  and  pro- 
voked a  battle  and  published  to  the  world  that  American 
blood  had  been  shed  on  American  soil.  The  Whigs,  while 
denying  this,  supported  the  war,  as  good  loyal  citizens,  and 
furnished  from  Illinois  a  Baker  and  a  Hardin,  who  were 
killed  at  Cerro  Gordo. 

Henry  Clay,  the  idol  of  the  Whig  party,  was  snowed 
under  by  Polk,  whose  name  was  scarcely  known  by  the 
American  people,  and  the  slave  power  held  high  carnival 
for  the  next  sixteen  years.  Compromises  were  treated  as 
things  of  no  moment.  The  Whig  party  entered  a  weak  pro- 
test and  the  free  soil  party  began  to  grow.  The  climax 
was  reached  in  1860,  when  the  people  rose  in  their  might 
and  said  :  "Thus  far  and  no  farther !" 

There  was  a  great  rally  in  Peoria  that  year  and  a  good 
many  Petersburg  people  attended.  They  went  by  way  of 
Beardstown,  from  which  point  they  took  the  steamer  Jas- 
per to  Peoria.  They  were  gone  a  week. 

The  tariff  cut  a  big  figure  in  this  election.  The  Whig- 
party  was  in  favor  of  legislating  millions  of  money  into 
the  pockets  of  the  eastern  capitalists,  just  as  the  Republicans 
have  been  ever  since  the  organization  of  that  party. 

There   were   no    telegraph    lines    nor   railroads   in   the 


13 


194  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

"forties,"  and  it  was  six  weeks  after  the  election  when  we 
first  heard  the  result.  Our  folks  then  lived  across  the 
street  from  Bale's  carding  machine.  One  night  about  eleven 
o'clock  George  U.  Miles  and  Samuel  Hill  came  and 
awakened  Bale,  telling  him  that  Polk  was  elected.  Miles 
was  much  excited.  He  had  been  a  Whig  but  voted  for  Polk. 
They  got  out  a  cannon  that  had  been  made  from  a  shaft 
of  the  steamboat  Talisman.  It  was  about  five  feet  long, 
four  inches  in  diameter  and  had  a  two-inch  bore.  It  had 
often  been  heard  at  Springfield.  Over  one  hundred  shots 
were  fired  from  this  cannon  that  night  and  sleep  was  out 
of  the  question.  Miles  and  Hill  furnished  the  powder. 
Josiah  Hartsell,  who  was  nicknamed  "Saleratus,"  was  chief 
gunner.  About  daybreak  "Saleratus"  got  reckless  and  be- 
gan ramming  clay  down  on  the  charges  of  powder.  Finally 
the  old  cannon  burst  in  a  thousand  pieces,  filling  "Saleratus' ' 
legs  and  body  with  fine  chips  of  iron  that  just  penetrated 
the  skin.  I  saw  Dr.  Allen  pick  out  the  scraps  of  iron, 
while  "Saleratus"  begged  him  to  stop,  that  he  was  kill- 
ing him. 

The  annexation  of  Texas  soon  brought  on  a  war,  as  the 
Whigs  said  it  would.  Menard  county  furnished  a  company 
of  which  A.  D.  Wright  was  captain  and  it  did  valiant 
service.  Only  a  few  of  that  company  are  alive  today. 
Time,  with  his  relentless  scythe,  has  cut  a  wide  swath  in 
the  ranks  of  those  who  returned  from  the  field  of  battle. 

After  the  Mexican  war  the  United  States  took  some 
territory  and  paid  the  Mexicans  $15,000,000. 

Thomas  L.  Harris  was  a  talented  and  cultured  gentle- 
man, who  came  from  the  east  and  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  law.  For  several  years  he  struggled  with  poverty  and  at 
times  went  into  the  harvest  field  to  work.  He  distinguished 
himself  in  the  Mexican  war  and  after  his  return  home  was 
elected  to  Congress.  About  this  time  disease  began  to  prey 
upon  him,  and  when  the  vote  on  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  195 

Compromise  act  was  taken,  Major  Harris  was  carried  on  his 
bed  to  the  floor  of  the  House  that  he  might  record  his  vote 
against  the  repeal.  He  died  before  the  expiration  of  his 
term.  No  purer  patriot  and  man  than  Thomas  L.  Harris 
has  been  called  from  labor  to  reward. 


FISH  AT  SALEM  DAM 

Away  back  in  the  "thirties,"  before  any  distilleries  were 
built  on  the  Sangamon  river  at  Springfield  or  Decatur,  and 
before  the  sewerage  from  those  cities  was  turned  into  the 
river,  there  was  an  abundance  of  fish  in  the  stream.  In  the 
spring  bass,  sunfish,  catfish,  sturgeon,  buffalo  and  suckers 
would  start  up"  the  stream  and  would  meet  no  impediment 
till  they  came  to  the  dam  at  Salem  mill.  When  the  river 
was  high  they  would  go  above  and  stock  up  the  river  a 
hundred  miles  further  on.  In  the  fall  they  would  come 
down  and  run  into  the  Illinois  and  Missouri. 

At  times  there  was  good  seining  below  the  mill.  I 
have  seen  George,  Spears  and  Jim  Clemens,  with  Spears' 
Negro  Jim,  come  down  to  the  mill  and  seine  all  night  and 
catch  all  they  wanted.  In  the  spring  of  the  year  the  fish 
would  crowd  up  below  the  mill  after  the  water  was  shut 
off  the  big  turbine  wheel.  They  would  be  so  thick  that  I 
have  gigged  many  of  them  by  just  jabbing  the  gig  in  the 
water. 

Among  the  expert  fishermen  of  that  day  were  Jack 
Kelso  and  Riley  Hendricks.  Jack  always  fished  with  a  hook 
and  would  make  a  good  catch  when  other  people  couldn't 
get  a  bite.  He  would  put  a  bait  on  his  hook  and  then  spit 
on  it.  Then  all  the  others  who  were  fishing  would  spit  on 
their  bait  and  would  occasionally  get  a  small  fish,  while 


196  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

Jack  would  fill  his  basket  with  black  perch,  weighing  from 
two  to  six  pounds,  and  then  with  twenty-five  pounds  of 
fine  fish  would  walk  down  to  Petersburg  and  sell  them. 

Riley  Hendricks  always  gigged  his  fish.  He  was  an 
expert  at  the  business.  Below  the  mill,  where  the  water  was 
boiling  from  the  wheel,  the  fish  would  be  shooting  and 
darting  about.  Riley,  with  almost  unerring  aim,  would  let 
the  gig  fly  at  a  fish  and  nearly  always  got  it.  I  saw  him 
strike  and  get  a  sturgeon  that  was  five  feet  long. 

But  I  have  not  related  my  fish  story.  Catfish  were 
plenty  in  those  days.  Great  big  blue  catfish.  They  gen- 
erally managed  to  get  above  the  dam  in  the  spring  and 
were  crazy  to  get  below  in  the  fall  when  the  water  was 
low.  The  only  way  for  them  to  get  down  was  to  come 
through  the  wheel,  which  was  an  upright  turbine  wooden 
wheel.  The  water  came  through  a  wooden  box  about 
eighteen  inches  in  size,  to  the  wheel.  When  the  gate  was 
raised,  and  the  water  turned  onto  the  wheel,  some  times,, 
the  wheel  would  choke  down  and  stop.  The  miller  would 
know  it  was  full  of  fish  and  would  shut  off  the  water  and 
take  out  the  big  catfish.  At  times  there  would  be  fifty  fish 
in  the  wheel.  Some  would  weigh  twenty-five  pounds  and 
would  be  bent  nearly  double  to  suit  the  cups  on  the  wheel, 
and  some  would  be  crushed,  so  tightly  were  they  wedged  in 
the  wheel.  The  fish  would  all  be  taken  out  and  thrown 
in  a  pile  and  the  neighbors  could  help  themselves.  Fish 
were  plenty  in  those  days  and  I  have  not  stretched  my 
imagination  in  the  above  description. 


MY  FIRST  PAIR  OF  BOOTS 

In  early  times  there  were  plenty  of  tan  yards.  Hides 
were  not  sold  then  as  now.  A  man  would  kill  a  beef  in  the 
fall  and  take  the  hide  to  the  nearest  tan  yard  for  tanning. 
Near  the  tail  the  owner  of  the  yard  would  scrape  off  the  hair 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  197 

and  with  a  suitable  instrument  put  the  man's  name  on  the 
hide.  By  soaking  the  hide  in  lime  water  the  hair  would  be 
loosened  and  could  be  scraped  off.  Then  the  tanner  would 
work  on  the  fleshed  side  till  it  was  ready  to  be  put  in  the  vat, 
filled  up  with  white  oak  bark,  and  the  water  let  on,  and  after 
laying  all  summer,  would  be  worked  till  it  was  finished 
leather.  It  took  one  year  to  make  leather  by  this  process. 
Now,  I  understand,  leather  can  be  made  in  two  or  three 
weeks. 

There  were  two  tan  yards  in  Petersburg  run  by  James 
Anno  and  his  brother  Pollard.  John  Bennett  bought  them 
out.  There  was  nothing  striking  about  a  tan  yard,  except 
grinding  the  bark.  This  was  done  with  a  large  wooden 
wheel  made  of  solid  timber,  about  six  feet  in  diameter  and 
eighteen  inches  thick,  and  the  surface  filled  with  wooden 
teeth.  The  wheel  was  fastened  on  a  shaft.  A  horse  at  the 
other  end  of  the  shaft  turned  the  wheel.  Bark  would  be  laid 
around  the  circle  and  the  horse  would  grind  the  bark  till  it 
was  fine.  Alternate  layers  of  bark  and  hides  would  fill  the 
vat,  which  was  six  or  eight  feet  deep,  and  thus  the  hide  was 
tanned. 

There  was  in  every  community  a  man  who  made  shoes. 
Alex.  Fergesson  of  Salem,  was  the  man  for  that  community. 
I  have  seen  my  uncle,  Wm.  Sampson,^  who  had  eight  boys, 
and  two  girls,  come  to  Fergesson's  with  a  couple  of  tanned 
hides  and  measures  for  all  the  children,  and  in  a  couple  of 
weeks  come  back  with  a  two  bushel  sack  and  get  the  shoes. 

I  believe  I  was  the  first  boy  in  Petersburg  that  had  a  pair 
of  boots — red  top  boots.  A.  D.  Wright  had  a  pair  of  boots 
made  to  order  and  they  were  too  small  for  him  to  wear.  So 
one  day  he  offered  to  sell  them  to  me.  I  was  then  twelve 
years  old.  I  told  him  I  would  like  to  have  them  though  they 
were  rather  large  for  me.  He  had  three  cords  of  wood, 
hackberry  and  elm,  corded  up  against  a  fence  and  he  pro- 
posed if  I  would  cut  one  end  off  for  stove  wood  and  leave 


198  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

the  other  end  for  the  fire  place  I  should  have  the  boots.  I 
took  him  up,  quick.  I  was  three  weeks  doing  the  job,  but 
was  the  only  boy  in  town  with  a  pair  of  red  top  boots.  I 
had  every  boy  in  town  helping  me  cut  that  wood  before  I  got 
it  done. 


THE  OLD  SCHOOL  HOUSE  ON  THE  HILL 

From  1840  to  1846  the  school  at  "Petersburg  was  taught 
in  a  frame  house  south  of  Dr.  Allen's  brick  house  on  the  hill 
west  of  the  court  house  square.  Charles  B.  Waldo  was  the 
teacher.  He  was  a  brother-in-law  to  John  Bennett.  I  sup- 
pose he  was  above  the  average  teacher  or  he  would  not  have 
taught  for  six  successive  years.  He  had  Latin  scholars 
younger  than  I  was,  but  I  never  studied  Latin.  I  thought  if 
I  mastered  the  English  language  I  would  be  content.  Mr. 
Waldo  was  not  so  strict  as  was  cousin  Mentor  Graham. 

I  will  try  and  call  to  memory  some  of  those  who 
attended  school.  There  was  the  Brooks  family,  Albert, 
Lucy,  John  and  others.  Albert  and  Lucy  have  handed  in 
their  checks.  John  also  is  dead.  There  was  the  Laning  fam- 
ily, Ed.  and  Sarah  (wife  of  Dr.  Short  of  Jacksonville),  John, 
"B."  and  Fred.  There  was  Thomps  McNeely,  who  was  a 
modest  boy  but  we  expect  his  contact  with  the  world  has  had 
a  hardening  influence  on  his  nerves. 

There  was  Tom,  Dick  and  Harry  Bennett — all  gone. 
Tom,  after  years  of  toil  and  discouragement  in  Salt  creek 
bottom,  died  just  before  his  land  \vas  sold  to  the  Hergets  of 
Pekin  at  a  good  price.  Harry  died  while  keeping  a  drug 
store  in  Easton.  Not  a  member  of  John  Bennett's  family  is 
alive  today  as  far  as  I  know. 

There  was  Bill  Cowgill  and  a  sister,  who  removed  from 
Petersburg  a  long  time  ago.  The  Trent  family — Hugh, 
"Wimps,"  Nancy  and  Belle  and  John.  Hugh  and  William- 
son and  Nancy  and  John  have  gone  the  way  of  all  the  earth, 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  199 

while  Belle  is  living  in  Havana,  the  wife  of  William  Webb. 

There  was  the  Elam  family,  now  scattered  to  the  four 
corners  of  the  earth,  except  Frances,  who  lives  in  Forest 
City. 

There  was  James  Miles,  still  hale  and  hearty,  who  lives 
just  north  of  town,  and  his  sister  Elizabeth,  who  married 
Chatterton,  of  Springfield,  and  Ann  Miles,  who  became  the 
wife  of  Lincoln's  partner  and  who,  I  am  informed,  is  dead. 
Fifty  years  makes  a  vast  difference  in  a  community. 

There  was  the  Wright  family.  Lucy,  the  widow  of 
Tom  Bennett,  is  running  the  Hotel  Smoot.  Buck  and  Jack 
and  Ed.  are  well  known,  having  been  born  and  raised  in 
Petersburg.  There  was  the  Brahms,  who  lived  north  of 

Petersburg-,  but  who  came  to  town  to  school.     The  oldest 
ft5 

was  Thomas,  who  died  years  ago ;  Nancy  died  a  few  months 
ago.     John  is  in  poor  health  and  has  moved  to  Chicago. 


A  DEER  HUNT 

There  was  a  time  when  deer  \vere  plenty  in  Menard 
county.  Jack  Kelso  was  a  boss  hunter  and  not  only  supplied 
his  own  family,  but  always  kept  venison  hams  for  sale.  Sam 
Wilcox  was  another  hunter.  .The  only  difference  was  that 
Kelso  used  a  rifle  and  could  kill  a  deer  at  long  range,  while 
Wilcox  hunted  on  horseback  and  used  a  double-barreled 
shotgun.  Wilcox  spent  one  winter  (I  think  it  was  in  1855) 
in  Forest  City  township  and  kept  a  wagon  running  all  winter 
to  Springfield,  selling  his  venison.  I  think  he  told  me  that 
he  killed  sixty  deer  that  winter.  I  recollect  that  on  one  trip 
on  upper  Spring  Lake,  as  the  result  of  a  week's  work,  he 
brought  home  the  carcasses  of  nineteen  deer.  But  the 
hounds  ran  all  the  deer  out  of  Menard  and  Mason  long  ago. 
I  have  seen  thirty  deer  in  one  drove.  They  would  go  out  of 
Long  Point  in  the  evening  to  Red  Oak  swamp  and  back  10 
Long  Point  in  the  morning.  They  would  travel  single  file, 


2OO  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

walk  awhile,  trot,  and  then  gallop.  Not  a  deer  had  been  seen 
in  this  section  for  twenty  years. 

In  1843  Henry  Fields,  who  worked  on  the  court  house  in 
Petersburg,  had  a  few  hounds,  and  one  Christmas  he  and  a 
dozen  of  us  boys  went  after  deer.  Just  below  the  bridge,  on 
the  east  side  of  the  river,  the  hounds  took  a  trial  down  the 
river.  After  awhile  they  crossed  the  river,  then  took  west 
past  Concord  camp  ground,  the  hunters  keeping  on  the  in- 
side of  the  circle.  After  awhile  the  hounds  turned  south  till 
they  passed  Petersburg,  and  as  a  deer  always  came  back  to 
where  he  started  from  we  all  headed  for  the  place  where  he 
would  cross  the  river.  The  deer  plunged  into  the  river  to 
swim  across,  when  a  dozen  shots  killed  him.  The  water  was 
deep  and  we  were  puzzled  about  how  to  get  him  out.  Hugh 
Trent,  who  was  always  equal  to  any  emergency,  constructed 
a  raft  out  of  rails,  pulled  him  out  and  brought  him  to  shore. 
The  deer  was  carried  to  town  and  the  next  day  was  divided 
up  into  fifteen  or  twenty  shares. 

I  have  seen  deer  run  through  the  streets  of  Petersburg 
when  they  did  not  know  there  was  a  town  till  they  got  in  it. 
Deer  skins  used  to  be  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  public  and 
private. 


GEORGE  KIRBY  OF  SANDRIDGE 

Tuesday  morning  of  this  week  found  us  on  the  C.,  P.  & 
St.  L.  train,  speeding  south  from  our  home  at  Forest  City. 
We  stopped  at  Oakford  and  found  "Tobe"  Kirby  waiting  for 
us.  "Is  this  Mr.  Onstot?"  said  he,  'That's  my  name;  is 
this  Mr.  Kirby?"  asked  I.  "That's  my  name,"  returned  he. 
So,  with  this  self  introduction,  we  took  passage  in  his  buggy 
for  his  residence  six  miles  east  of  Oakford.  We  found  him 
a  very  agreeable  companion.  As  we  traveled  along  we 
passed  a  number  of  fine  farm  houses  and  he  kindly  and  en- 
tertainingly answered  all  our  questions  regarding  their 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD.  COUNTY.  201 

ownership,  etc.  Also,  along  the  route  were  school  houses, 
such  as  are  seen  all  over  the  country,  where  the  children  as- 
semble to  get  a  good  common  school  education  to  equip  them 
for  the  duties  of  life. 

Finally  ahead  of  us  there  loomed  up  a  big  farm  house — 
big  enough  for  a  hotel,  where  our  companion  lives  and  where 
we  stopped.  The  occasion  of  our  visjt  was  to  attend  the 
eighty-sixth  birthday  anniversary  of  George  Kirby,  the 
father  of  our  host,  whom  we  had  not  seen  for  more  than 
fifty  years.  We  were  kindly,  even  cordially  received. 

George  Kirby  was  born  in  Madison  county,  Illinois,  De- 
cember 20,  1812,  and  came  to  Clary's  Grove,  Menard 
county,  in  1820.  We  doubt  if  there  are  a  dozen  people  now 
living  who  were  here  when  he  came.  The  county  was  wild 
then.  Venison,  wild  turkey  and  other  game  supplied  the 
board  tables  in  the  rude  cabin  of  his  father,  Cyrus  Kirby. 
It  was  before  any  of  the  great  inventions  of  the  age  had  been 
made.  There  were  no  railroads,  no  telegraph,  no  telephones 
no  bicycles.  It  must  have  been  a  lonesome  time  for  young 
George,  growing  up  at  that  time,  but  he  did  grow  up.  He 
received  a  common  school  education,  and  with  his  good 
common  sense  made  a  success  in  life  while  others  with  just 
as  good  or  better  advantages  made  dismal  failures.  He 
married  Dorcas  Atterberry  in  October,  1834.  She  died  a 
few  years  ago.  His  son,  George  T.,  (our  host),  now  con- 
ducts the  farm.  He  is  a  "chip  off  the  old  block" — a  fine 
specimen  of  the  middle-aged  men,  sons  of  the  pioneers  of 
this  country. 

Among  the  guests  were  the  venerable  Squire  D.  Masters 
and  wife,  Mrs.  Lucy  Watkins,  (sister  of  George  Kirby), 
James  Senter,  (a  son-in-law)  and  wife,  and  others.  Mrs. 
Watkins  has  passed  her  ninetieth  year. 

A  royal  feast  was  spread.  The  fatted  calf  had  been 
killed,  and  Mrs.  George  Kirby,  Jr.,  and  her  daughters,  left 
nothing  undone  to  make  the  guests  feel  at  home.  After 


2O2  HISTORY  OF  MEXARD  COUXTY. 

dinner  all  repaired  to  the  sitting  room,  where  a  blazing  fire 
in  the  old  fashioned  fireplace,  the  first  we  had  seen  in  many 
years,  made  everything  look  cheerful.  "Uncle  George"  and 
Squire  Masters  regaled  the  party  with  anecdotes  and  inci- 
dents of  early  days,  and  upon  comparing  notes  we  found 
that  there  were  three  of  us  who  had  never  drank  liquor  or 
used  tobacco  in  any  form. 

"Uncle  George"  Kirby's  success  as  a  farmer  is  attested 
by  his  ownership  of  1,200  acres  of  fine  farm  land.  The 
home  place  is  well  kept  and  well  stocked  by  the  son,  George 
T.,  better  known  as  "Tobe."  He  is  feeding  sixty  head  of 
cattle  and  a  fine  lot  of  hogs  at  the  present  time.  He  not 
only  feeds  all  the  corn  produced  on  the  farm  but  buys  as 
much  more  of  the  neighbors. 

"Tobe"  has  a  bachelor  brother,  Sam,  a  fine,  good  look- 
ing man  in  the  prime  of  life.  If  Sam  lived  in  Mason 
county  some  buxom  widow  or  old  maid  would  capture  him 
the  first  leap  year  that  came  around.  We  feel  an  interest  in 
him  and  would  help  him  to  get  a  wife  if  he  would  say  so. 

The  men  of  George  Kirby's  stamp  have  made  this  coun- 
try what  it  is.  They  have  left  their  impress  on  their  sons, 
who  in  turn  have  sons  that  cultivate  the  moral  and  intellec- 
tual interests  of  the  physical  man.  Many  of  the  men  we  have 
written  about,  who  lived  and  died  in  the  early  history  of  the 
county,  contributed  but  little  to  its  morals. 

We  came  from  the  Kirby  home  to  Petersburg  in  the 
evening.  The  road  was  quite  muddy,  but  with  "Tobe"  for 
our  companion  the  trip  was  a  pleasant  one. 

We  like  to  meet  these  old  settlers  and  as  we  have  lefsure 
now  will  be  glad  to  do  so  at  any  time;  and  we  promise  to 
keep  our  end  of  the  single-tree  up. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


OLD  TIME  STORIES 

MONG  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Menard  county  who 
have  answered  death's  call  within  the  past  year 
were  Dulcena  Goodpasture  and  Parthena  Hill. 
I  remember  Mrs.  Goodpasture  from  the  time  of 
her  marriage — a  tall,  beautiful  young  woman  of  majestic 
carriage.  She  came  from  a  noble  family  and  was  a  sister  of 
Jacob  and  John  Williams.  As  a  boy,  I  had  great  reverence 
for  her;  she  was  so  kind  and  affable  and  made  one  feel  at 
ease  when  in  her  presence.  I  had  not  seen  her  for  nearly 
fifty  years  until  about  a  year  ago  I  met  her  at  McGrady  Rut- 
ledge's  in  Petersburg.  She  had  changed  greatly,  of  course, 
but  there  was  the  same  kindly  greeting  as  in  the  olden  times. 
I  saw  her  again  at  Old  Salem  Chautauqua  and  the  signs  of 
declining  health  were  plainly  visible.  The  end  came  in  a 
few  months  and  this  uncrowned  queen  of  earth  was  re-united 
with  her  husband.  When  the  roll  is  called  up  yonder,  no 
purer,  brighter  spirit  will  answer  than  Dulcena  Goodpasture. 
It  was  in  1837  that  I  first  saw  Parthena  Hill.  She  had 
just  been  married  to  Samuel  Hill,  the  Salem  merchant.  Her 
maiden  name  was  Nance,  and  she  was  a  sister  of  Hon. 
Thomas  Nance.  She  stood  high  in  the  circle  in  which  she 
moved.  She  joined  the  Presbyterian  church  and  was  a  de- 
voted Christian  as  long  as  she  lived.  Mr.  Hill  died  and  many 
years  of  her  life  were  spent  in  the  loneliness  of  widowhood. 
I  made  it  a  point  to  call  on  her  when  I  visited  Petersburg, 
and  was  always  warmly  welcomed.  She  loved  to  talk  over 
old  times  and  more  than  once  spoke  about  my  plat  of  Salem 


2O4  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

and  the  article  about  the  village  which  I  furnished  The  Dem- 
ocrat in  1892.  She  had  preserved  them  in  a  scrap  book. 

These  two  noble  women  outlived  their  generation.  Like 
ripened  shocks  of  grain  they  have  been  gathered  into  the 
heavenly  garner  and  the  world  is  better  because  they  lived. 

When  a  boy  I  helped  Abraham  Goodpasture  farm  the 
bottom  land  along  where  the  C,  P.  &  St.  L.  railroad  crosses 
the  river  south  of  Petersburg.  The  land  was  new  and  very 
fertile  and  the  corn  grew  so  high  that  I  had. to  bend  the  stalks 
down  to  gather  the  ears.  The  bottom  land  between  Peters- 
burg and  Salem,  though  it  has  been  farmed  a  long  time,  ap- 
pears to  still  produce  abundant  crops.  I  saw  corn  on  the  old 
Able  farm  two  years  ago  that  would  make  sixty  bushels  to 
the  acre. 

Goodpasture  and  I  ran  a  thrashing  machine  one  year. 
Not  a  steam  thrasher.  Oh,  no.  It  was  a  horse  power  of 
the  primitive  kind.  We  scraped  off  a  round  spot  of  ground 
about  twenty  feet  in  diameter  and  when  we  had  ten  acres  of 
wheat  to  thrash  we  would  haul  a  couple  of  loads  and  lay  it 
down  on  this  ground  and  I  would  ride  the  horses  around  on 
it  until  we  wrould  get  dizzy ;  then  I  would  turn  them  and  go 
the  other  \yay  as  long  as  I  and  the  horses  could  stand  it. 
Then  Brother  G.  would  say :  "While  you  are  resting  take 
my  fork  and  stir  up  the  grain."  I  thought  it  was  a  queer 
way  to  rest,  but  generally  obeyed.  I  think  we  could  thrash 
and  clean  about  one  acre  a  day.  Goodpasture  was  from  the 
hilly  part  of  Tennessee  and  commenced  farming  in  the  San- 
gamon  bottoms.  He  was  a  fair  preacher;  not  of  the  sen- 
sational kind,  but  of  the  doctrinal  sort. 

The  history  of  Menard  county  would  be  incomplete  with- 
out an  extended  notice  of  Hardin  Bale,  the  eldest  son  oi 
Jacob  Bale.  As  early  as  1836  he  was  running  the  carding 
machine  in  Salem.  He  was  an  expert  machinist.  The 
main  building  was  a  frame  about  forty  feet  square.  A  shed 
on  the  north  covered  the  incline  wheel  which  was  forty  feel 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  205 

in  diameter  and  stood  at  an  incline  of  twenty-five  degrees. 
On  this  wheel  two  oxen  furnished  the  motive  power.  A 
large  sill  operated  by  a  lever  in  the  side  of  the  mill  held  the 
wheel  still,  and  it  was  set  in  motion  by  letting  the  brake  loose. 
The  cogs  in  this  machine  were  all  made  of  wood.  With  this 
rude  machinery  all  the  carding  machines  were  run.  First 
was  the  picker,  which  made  the  wool  ready  for  the  first  ma- 
chine; After  going  through  this  it  was  left  in  bats  ready 
for  the  finisher,  and  came  out  in  rolls.  It  was  then  done  up 
in  bundles  and  tied  up.  Hardin  took  toll  out  of  the  wool 
after  it  had  been  run  through  the  picker.  In  1841  he  moved 
his  machine  to  Petersburg  and  established  it  on  Main  street, 
four  blocks  south  of  the  present  court  house.  Great  im- 
provements were  made.  The  buildings  were  larger,  the 
wheel  was  nearly  fifty  feet  in  diameter,  iron  cogs  were  sub- 
stituted for  the  wooden  ones,  and  horses  and  mules  were  used 
instead  of  oxen. 

In  the  course  of  a  few  years  steam  took  the  place  of 
horse  power  and  machinery  for  fulling  cloth  was  added ;  then 
a  spinning  jenny  with  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  spindles ; 
then  weaving  machines.  Samuel  Hill,  who  always  took  a 
great  interest  in  machinery  and  Hardin  Bale,  became  part- 
ners and  a  pair  of  French  buhrs  were  added.  The  mill  now 
assumed  large  proportions  and  was  successfully  run  till  fire 
destroyed  it  in  1865.  The  ground  has  since  laid  vacant. 

Hardin  Bale  came  out  of  the  fire  considerably  worsted, 
but  he  was  not  inclined  to  give  up.  He  secured  a  large 
building  across  the  branch  by  the  coal  bank  and  there  carried 
on  the  business  for  a  number  of  years.  Among  the  men  who 
worked  for  him  many  years  were  Hurd,  the  fuller,  and  Caleb 
Carman,  the  carder.  These  men  and  their  employer  have 
gone  to  the  country  from  whence  no  traveler  has  yet  re- 
turned. 

Hardin  Bale  married  Esther  Summers  in  his  early  man- 
hood and  raised  quite  a  family.  His  father-in-law,  Len 


206  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

Summers,  was  an  old  settler  who  lived  west  of  Salem  and 
was  noted  for  murdering  the  English  language. 

Hardin  Bale's  history  is  like  that  of  hundreds  of  others. 
For  a  few  years  he  prospered  in  every  venture,  but  the  tide 
turned  and  misfortune  overtook  him.  He  always  had  a 
brave  heart,  however,  and  never  gave  up. 


JUDGE  JOSEPH  H.  PILLSBURY 


JUDGE  JOSEPH   H.   PILLSBURY 


Was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Menard  county.  He 
was  born  in  1830,  in  Stafford  county  New  Hampshire. 

His  mother  came  to  Menard  county  and  settled  there  in 
the  "thirties."  It  then  being  but  a  new  county  and  called 
Sangamon. 

He  was  given  a  good  education  in  Illinois  college.  He 
located  in  Petersburg  in  1854  and  read  law  with  the  lamented 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  207 

Thomas  L.  Harns.  He  then  taught  school.  In  1855  he 
was  elected  school  commissioner,  serving  in  that  capacity 
for  six  years.  In  1856  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar;  was 
elected  police  magistrate  and  appointed  master-in-chancery, 
which  office  he  held  eight  years.  He  was  then  elected 
county  judge.  He  rilled  these  several  offices  with  efficiency 
and  fidelity.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Susan  M.  Gardner  in 
1861. 

Two  children,  Joseph  B.  and  Susan  H.,  who,  with  his 
devoted  wife,  survive  him.  He  administered  on  his  own 
estate  and  had  all  of  his  business  settled  when  he  died.  He 
had  perfect  faith  in  the  Lord,  having  been  baptised  in  his 
own  home,  and  died  full  of  years  and  honors. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

REMINISCENCES  OF  MENARD  COUNTY 

T  THE  session  of  the  Legislature  in  1838 — '39, 
Menard  county  was  stricken  off  Sangamon  and 
named  Menard,  in  honor  of  Col.  Pierre  Menard, 
a  Frenchman,  who  settled  at  Kaskaskia.  Me 
nard  was  so  popular  in  his  day  that  when  the  convention 
framed  the  constitution  of  the  state,  a  clause  was  included 
in  the  constitution  providing  that  any  citizen  of  the  United 
States,  who  had  resided  in  the  state  for  two  years,  might  be 
eligible  to  the  office  of  lieutenant  governor.  This  was  done 
that  Col.  Menard,  who  had  only  been  naturalized  a  year  or 
so,  might  be  made  lieutenant  governor  under  Shadrick 
Bond  the  first  governor  of  Illinois. 

As  Menard  county  was  named  after  this  popular  French- 
man, it  might  be  interesting  to  give  a  short  account  of  his 
life.  He  was  born  in  the  city  of  Quebec  in  1767,  and  in 
his  nineteenth  year  his  spirit  of  adventure  led  him  to  seek 
his  fortune  in  the  territory  watered  by  the  Mississippi.  He 
soon  found  employment  with  Col.  Vigo ;  in  1790  he  formed  a 
partnership  with  Duboose,  a  merchant  in  Vincennes,  and 
shortly  afterwards  removed  their  stock  to  Kaskaskia.  Me- 
nard, though  possessed  of  a  limited  education,  was  a  man  of 
quick  and  good  judgment.  He  was  honest  and  full  of 
energy  and  industry,  and  a  leader  among  the  people  of  his 
adopted  home.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  a  government 
agent  for  the  Indians  and  had  the  esteem  and  friendship  of 
the  tribes.  This  secured  him  great  advantages  as  a  mer- 
chant. He  could  buy  their  furs  for  half  the  price  they  could 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  209 

be  purchased  by  other  traders.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
legislature  from  1812  to  1818.  He  was  lieutenant  governor 
from  1818  to  1822,  and  after  that  declined  to  accept  any 
further  honors  from  the  people.  He  died  in  Tazewell 
county  at  the  good  old  age  of  77  years.  Such  was  the  man 
for  whom  Menard  county  was  named. 

The  boundaries  of  Menard  county  are  as  follows  :  Com- 
mencing on  the  east,  Salt  Creek,  north  of  Irish  Grove  and 
the  Sangamon  river  form  its  eastern  boundary,- on  the  north 
the  waters  of  the  Sangamon  form  its  northern  boundary,  on 
the  west  Clary's  Grove,  Little  Grove  and  Puncheon  Camp 
Grove  form  the  western  boundary,  and  on  the  south  Rock 
Creek.  The  Sangamon  river  flows  through  the  center  of 
the  county  from  south  to  north.  The  county  contains  two 
hundred  twenty-five  square  miles.  A  number  of  small 
streams  flow  into  the  Sangamon  and  Salt  Creek,  affording 
plenty  of  fresh  water  for  stock  and  other  purposes.  The 
surface  of  the  country  is  generally  level,  though  for  a  mile 
or  so  back  of  the  streams  it  is  broken.  The  greater  part 
of  the  county,  in  its  native  state,  was  prairie  covered  with  a 
luxuriant  coat  of  grass  with  countless  varieties  of  flowers. 
Groves  and  bodies  of  timber  are  interspersed  all  over  the 
county  in  ample  abundance  for  agricultural  and  manufactory 
purposes.  Along  the  Sangamon,  for  a  mile  and  a  half  on 
either  side,  the  timber  was  once  heavy  with  white  oak 
growth,  but  the  woodman's  axe  has  laid  the  forest  low  and 
the  lands  have  either  been  brought  into  cultivation  or  used 
for  pasturing  the  countless  herds  of  cattle  or  flocks  of  sheep. 
Rock  Creek  and  Indian  Point  had  in  early  days  heavy  tim- 
ber. In  the  eastern  part  of  the  county  Irish  Grove  and 
Sugar  Grove  had  some  splendid  forests,  while  in  the  western 
part  Clary's  Grove  and  Little  Grove  had  sufficient  timber  for 
its  own  use.  The  native  timber  was  white  oak,  which  was 
king  of  the  forest,  which,  with  red  oak,  walnut,  hickory, 
cherry,  elm  and  many  other  varieties,  made  up  the  forest. 

14 


2io  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

We  counted  the  number  of  kinds  of  timber  on  old  Salem 
Chautauqua  grounds  and  found  twenty-seven  different 
kinds.  The  soft  wood  along  the  rivers  are  sycamore  and  cot- 
tonwood  which  grow  to  a  very  large  size,  while  soft  maple 
is  a  very  quick  growth  and  is  used  much  for  shade  and  orna- 
mental trees.  The  sugar  maple  appears  to  be  a  natural 
growth  all  over  the  country,  and  in  pioneer  days  the  sugar 
tree  furnished  syrup  and  sugar  for  the  early  settlers. 

The  soil -of  Menard  county  is  very  productive,  not  only 
in  the  bottom  lands,  but  the  uplands  are  equally  productive 
for  pasture.  The  farmer  only  clears  the  land  of  the  tim- 
ber, which  is  soon  set  with  a  magnificent  coat  adapted  to 
corn,  wheat  or  oats.  For  many  years  the  raising  and  feed- 
ing of  cattle. and  hogs  was  very  profitable  to  the  farmer,  but 
the  high  price  of  pasture  land,  when  brought  into  compari- 
son with  the  cheap  western  lands,  did  not  leave  as  much 
profit  as  the  farmer  desired,  and  the  Menard  farmer  now 
turns  his  attention  to  raising  the  finer  strains  of  horses  and 
cattle,  and  the  Norman  and  Clydesdale  and  other  fine  breeds 
of  race  horses,  are  raised  to  a  profit. 

Another  great  source  of  wealth  to  Menard  county  is  its 
inexhaustible  beds  of  coal.  In  the  first  settlement  of  the 
county  small  veins  of  coal  crept  out  at  Petersburg  and  at 
the  Purkapile  branch.  The  coal  was  not  used  for  fuel,  and  a 
blacksmith  would  only  have  to  strip  off  the  dirt  two  or  three 
feet  deep  and  get  all  the  coal  he  needed.  The  first  stoves 
used  were  wood  stoves,  and  the  women  said  the  coal  would 
burn  the  stove  out.  The  coal  is  three  veins  in  thickness  and 
the  strata  wrill  make  at  least  twenty-five  feet  in  thickness, 
and  in  every  foot  of  coal  there  are  twenty  bushels  of  coal  or 
one  million  tons  of  coal  per  acre.  This  is  of  itself  an  inex- 
haustible source  of  wealth.  No  nation  can  succeed  without 
a  supply  of  coal,  as  it  drives  the  factories  and  the  commerce 
of  the  world.  There  are  a  number  of  coal  mines  operated 
near  Petersburg,  furnishing  labor  for  a  large  number  of 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  211 

employes  and  furnishing  a  home  market  for  a  large  amount 
of  produce.  The  first  coal  shaft  was  owned  by  Elijah  Tay- 
lor in  the  fall  of  1845. 

Stone  is  not  as  plentiful  as  could  be  desired.  There 
are  quantities  of  limestone  on  Rock  Creek  lying  near  the 
surface  that  makes  excellent  stone  for  foundation,  but  not 
lying  near  to  a  railroad,  will  never  be  developed  for  building 
purposes,  though  it  makes  an  excellent  quality  of  lime. 
Stone  is  also  found  at  old  Salem  and  at  Petersburg  but  the 
quarries  have  never  been  worked.  The  natural  advantages 
of  Menard  county  are  great,  and  no  locality  is  better  sup- 
plied with  facilities  for  manufactory  enterprises.  There  is 
also  clay  of  a  superior  quality  for  manufactory  drain  tile. 
Brick  of  an  excellent  quality  is  made  all  over  the  county.  It 
it  strange  that  manufactories  for  agricultural  implements, 
plows,  reapers,  wagons  and  buggies  are  not  made  in  the 
county,  instead  of  paying  out  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
dollars  to  have  them  brought  from  other  places. 


EARLY  SETTLEMENTS 

Settlements  were  first  made  in  Sangamon  county  before 
any  white  settlement  was  made  in  the  bounds  of  Menard 
county,  and  Menard  was  a  part  of  Sangamon  until  1839. 
There  are  conflicting  statements  as  to  who  was  the  first 
settler.  John  Clary  claims  to  be  the  first  as  far  back  as 
1819,  just  as  it  became  a  state.  He  settled  near  Tal- 
lula,  and  Clary's  Grove  takes  its  name  from  him.  He  built 
the  first  house  in  the  grove  and  a  number  of  houses  were 
built  soon  after.  The  houses  built  by  the  first  settlers  were 
very  rude  affairs.  Not  a  nail  was  used,  nor  a  pane  of  glass. 
Directly  after  Clary  settled  in  the  grove  the  Armstrong's, 


212  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY 

Green's  and  Spears'  settled  west  of  the  Sangamon.  Soon 
after  Sugar  Grove  was  settled.  About  the  same  .-time  Charles 
Montgomery  and  Alexander  Meadows  were  among  the  first 
settlers  east  of  the  Sangamon  river.  James  Meadows  and 
Jacob  Bozer  came  to  Sugar  Grove  in  1819.  They  came 
from  the  American  Bottom  above  Alton.  Meadows  had 
one  wagon  drawn  by  two  horses,  one  milk  cow,  and  a  yoke 
of  yearling  steers  and  thirty  head  of  hogs.  Bozer  brought 
three  head  of  horses,  two  milch  cows  and  a  yoke  of  oxen. 
The  Blaine  family  came  next.  This  family  were  of  Irish 
blood  and  Irish  Grove  was  named  after  them.  The  Blaines 
brought  two  span  of  horses  and  six  yoke  of  oxen.  They 
soon  built  cabins  and  were  probably  in  the  grove  when  Clary 
settled  in  Clary's  Grove. 

The  Elaine's  took  claims,  erected  cabins,  and  began  to 
grow  up  with  the  country.  As  above  stated,  Meadows  had 
brought  two  horses  and  thirty  head  of  hogs  and  a  yoke  of 
yearling  steers  with  him  to  the  grove.  In  a  few  months  the 
horses  were  missing  and  the  hogs  strayed  away  and  were 
lost.  In  a  short  time  one  of  the  calves  was  found  dead. 
Search  was  made,  as  it  was  difficult  to  replace  the  stock  with- 
out a  great  deal  of  expense.  Meadows  applied  to  a  fortune 
teller  to  learn  what  had  become  of  the  horses  and  hogs.  He 
told  Meadows  that  the  horses  were  in  the  possession  of  the 
Indians  and  that  he  would  get  them  back  one  at  a  time. 
Sure  enough,  the  horses  were  found  in  the  possession  of  the 
Indians  who  claimed  to  have  traded  for  them  with  a  French  • 
man.  The  horses  were  so  worn  out  that  they  soon  died. 
The  hogs,  he  told  Meadows,  had  gone  down  the  Sangamon 
river  and  one-half  had  been  eaten.  Meadows  followed  his 
directions.  He  finally  found  and  recovered  part  of  his  hogs. 
The  early  settler  put  a  great  deal  of  confidence  in  fortune 
tellers.  Soon  another  caravan  of  emigrants  cyme  to  the 
grove,  among  whom  were  John  Jennison  and  William  Mc- 
Nabb.  James  McNabb,  son  of  William,  taught  the  first 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  213 

school  in  the  county.  He  was  also  a  surveyor.  He  was 
drowned  while  trying  to  swim  the  Sangamon  river  with  his 
compass  tied  on  his  head.  Soon  after  Ben  Wilcox  and 
others  came  from  Kentucky.  Mr.  Pentacost  settled  near 
the  place  where  Marbold  now  lives.  I  was  born. on  Henry 
Marbold's  farm.  My  father  moved  to  Sugar  Grove  in  an 
early  day.  The  house  used  to  be  owned  by  Alex.  Meadows. 
Marbold  told  me  that  the  house  stood  there  till  about  twenty 
years  ago.  The  Indians  had  their  camps  along  Salt  CreeK 
and  they  used  to  come  out  to  Sugar  Grove  to  get  milk.  Will- 
iam Engle  and  Leonard  Alkire  moved  to  the  grove  in  an 
early  day.  They  were  prominent  farmers  and  their  descend- 
ants still  exert  a  great  influence  to  this  day.  Bill  Engle 
was  an  all-around  man.  He  kept  a  store  at  Sweet  Water  for 
many  years.  He  was  also  a  great  politician,  an  old  line 
democrat  of  the  Jacksonian  style.  Engle  and  Alkire  being 
men  of  means,  soon  began  to  buy  out  claims.  John  Jenni- 
son  farmed  a  year  or  so  in  the  grove  and  then  moved  to 
Baker's  Prairie.  The  tide  of  emigration  now  began  to 
flow  in,  bringing  in  a  host  of  a  hardy  and  industrious  class 
of  people,  forming  a  thrifty  class.  The  first  marriage  was 
John  Jennison  to  Patsy  McNabb.  The  second  was  Mr. 
Hennar  and  Rosina  Elaine.  The  third,  William'  Engle  and 
Melissa  Alkire.  The  first  death  was  an  infant  son  of 
Bozer.  The  second  death  was  James  Blaine.  The  third 
was  Joseph  Kenney,  who  was  buried  in  Sugar  Grove  ceme- 
tery and  an  elm  tree  grew  up  out  of  the  grave  and  is  now  a 
large  tree.  The  first  school  house  was  built  in  Sugar  Grove 
in  1822,  and  was  built  by  Meadows,  Bayer,  Wilcox  and  Mc- 
Nabb. It  was  built  of  split  logs  and  was  sixteen  by  sixteen, 
covered  with  clap  boards  held  to  their  place  by  weight  poles ; 
the  house  was  as  good  as  'any  in  the  country.  The  seats 
were  a  log  split  and  four  pins  for  legs,  a  log  left  out  for  a 
window,  the  pens  all  made  of  goose  quills,  and  the  scholars 
kept  the  teacher  one-half  the  time  making  or  mending  goose 


214  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

quills,  and  the  teacher  always  carried  half  a  dozen  quills 
behind  ftis  ear.  The  books  were  the  old  English  readers  or 
the  testament.  In  arithmetic  the  scholars  hardly  ever  got 
past  the  single  rule  of  three.  Grammar  was  a  dead  language 
for  a  number  of  years  till  the  advent  of  Mentor  Graham  in 
the  country.  A  grammar  teacher  organized  a  class  and  as- 
sisted the  scholars  in  their  first  lesson.  The  first  preaching 
in  Sugar  Grove  was  by  the  Campbellites.  William  Engle 
was  a  preacher  of  that  order  and  most  of  the  settlers  were  of 
that  order.  Peter  Cartright  used  to  say  that  they  had  a  way 
to  heaven  fifteen  hundred  miles  shorter  than  any  other  sect 
and  all  the  way  by  water.  The  nearest  doctor  was  at  Spring- 
field. Dr.  Winn  was  the  first  doctor.  He  settled  near 
Indian  Point  and  practiced  medicine  in  an  early  day,  but 
finally  moved  up  near  Waynesville. 

Indian  Point,  about  half  way  between  Sugar  Grove  and 
Athens,  was  the  center  of  a  lot  of  emigrants.  This  was 
settled  in  1820.  The  first  settler  at  Indian  Point  was  Rob- 
ert White.  Near  his  house  was  the  Lebanon  camp  ground. 
Old  Robert  White  was  a  brother  of  James  White,  who  set- 
tled near  Tallula.  Soon  came  James  Williams.  He  had 
two  sons.  Jake  Williams,  a  blooded  cattle  raiser,  was  the 
first  man  to  introduce  the  short  horn  cattle.  Another  son, 
Col.  John  Williams  went  to  Springfield  and  was  identified 
with  important  improvements.  Among  his  daughters  were 
Canedy  Kincaid's  wife  and  Abraham  Goodpasture's  wife. 
The  Moore's  and  the  Scotts'  were  a  numerous  family.  Old 
Billy  Short  came  in  an  early  day.  He  sometimes  practiced 
law  before  the  lower  courts.  He  was  a  man  of  limited  edu- 
cation and  when  in  controversy  on  some  limited  point  would 
call  for  his  opponent  to  show  the  statutes.  The  settlement 
at  Indian  Point  was  one  of  the  most  important  made  in  the 
county,  and  many  of  the  descendants  of  the  pioneers  still 
live  in  the  fame  of  their  ancestors.  Perhaps  there  is  no 
locality  in  Menard  county  where  as  many  of  their  children 
and  even  to  the  third  generation  live,  as  at  Indian  Point. 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  215 

Having  thus  sketched  the  centers  of  the  three  first  settle- 
ments in  the  county,  the  most  important  locality  was  what 
was  called  in  an  early  day  New  Salem.  This  was  the 'first 
town  laid  out  in  the  county.  This  town  was  laid  out  where 
the  Sangamon  river  washes  the  foot  of  a  hill  or  bluff  whose 
sides  and  level  summit  were  at  an  early  day  covered  with  a 
heavy  growth  of  white  oak  timber.  The  country  back  from 
the  crest  of  the  hill  is  level  for  miles.  To  the  westward  the 
timber  continues  back  from  the  river  for  a  mile  in  a  dense 
forest,  beyond  which  the  prairie  continues  unbroken  for 
miles. 

On  the  south,  Rock  Creek,  a  small  stream,  but  large 
enough  for  the  rude  water-mill  of  an  early  day,  comes  into 
the  Sangamon  from  the  west.  This  creek  was  also  covered 
on  its  sides  with  a  fine  growth  of  timber.  Just  on  the  brow 
of  the  bluff,  in  years  long  gone  by,  was  situated  the  village  of 
New  Salem.  This  deserted  village  will  in  time  become  as 
historic  as  Mt.  Vernon.  Although  the  Sangamon  will  not 
compare  with  the  Patomac,  yet  Salem  is  as  sacred  to  the 
lovers  of  liberty  as  Mt.  Vernon  in  all  her  historic  glory. 
Many  visitors  from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  come  to  the 
spot  where  Abraham  Lincoln  spent  the  days  of  his  early 
manhood,  where  he  studied  law,  wrestled  and  romped  with 
young  men  of  his  age,  and  where  he  imbibed  principles, 
which  in  after  years,  made  him  the  idol  of  the  American 
people,  and  where  he  wrote  his  name  high  on  the  scroll  of 
fame  in  tablets  more  enduring  than  granite,  brass  or  bronze. 
They  are  disappointed  in  not  finding  any  vestige  of  Salem. 
Even  the  old  mill  at  the  foot  of  the  hill  is  gone  and  scarcely 
a  vestige  of  the  darrr  remains.  Only  one  land  mark  remains. 
This  is  Jacob's  Well.  This  well  was  made  by  Jacob  Bale 
and  is  still  walled  up  with  rock.  It  appears  indestructable ; 
covered  with  a  lot  of  old  railroad  ties  it  remains  as  a  re- 
minder of  old  Salem  sixty  years  ago.  Settlements  had 
been  made  in  the  vicinity  a  few  years  before  Salem  had  been 


216  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

laid  out.  William  Green,  Ned  Potter,  the  Jones'  and  Hugh 
Armstrong  had  moved  southwest  a  few  miles,  while  Tarle- 
ton  Lloyd  had  settled  up  farther  to  the  south  on  Rock 
Creek. 


It  is  reported  that  Lincoln  was  one  day  crossing  a  field 
in  which  a  bull  was  pastured.  The  bull,  espying  Lincoln, 
gave  chase.  Lincoln,  seeing  that  he  could  not  reach  the 
other  side  in  safety,  commenced  to  run  around  a  hay  stack 
and  soon  had  the  bull  in  front  of  him.  Seizing  the  bull  by 
the  tail  he  now  became  the  aggressor..  The  frightened 
animal  then  took  across  the  pasture  with  Lincoln  kicking 
him  in  the  sides,  first  with  one  foot  and  then  the  other. 
Giving  him  a  parting  kick,  he  exclaimed :  "You  son  of  a 
cow,  who  began  this  fight  anyhow?" 


CHAPTER  XXL 
ANECDOTES  OF  MENARD 

FTER  the  mill  was  built  at  Salem  it  was  a  big 
thing,  and  people  came  from  fifty  miles  around, 
and  someti'mes  waited  a  week  for  their  grist. 
Such  was  the  patronage  given  to  the  mill,  that 
a  town  was  demanded,  and  so,  on  the  thirteenth  day  of  Oc- 
tober, 1820,  Reuben  Hamison,  surveyor,  layed  out  the  town 
of  Salem.  The  owners  were  John  Cameron  and  James  Rut- 
ledge,  and  they  improved  the  town  by  building  each  a  log- 
cabin,  and  for  a  decade  the  town  had  an  interesting  history, 
but  now  nothing  remains  to  mark  the  buildings  but  a  few 
cellars,  but  the  history  of  Salem  will  live  as  long  as  the  mem- 
ory of  Abraham  Lincoln  endures.  At  the  time  Salem  was 
laid  out  there  had  never  been  a  postofBce  in  the  county,  the 
people  getting  what  little  mail  they  then  received  from 
Springfield,  then  a  mere  village.  About  this  time  Dr.  John 
Allen  came  from  the  east.  He  was  a  Christian  gentleman 
and  stood  very  high  in  his  profession.  He  soon  had  a  Sun- 
day school  started  in  a  log  cabin  that  stood  across  the  branch 
near  the  grave  yard. 

Abraham  Lincoln  came  in  the  summer  of  1831  on  his 
return  from  a  trip  down  the  Sangamon  river.  This  was  his 
first  trip  to  Salem,  though  he  had  passed  down  the  river  early 
the  preceding  spring.  There  is  a  story  of  Lincoln  boring  a 
hole  in  a  flat  boat  to  let  the  water  out  while  the  boat  was  fast 
on  the  dam.  The  boat  was  loaded  at  Decatur  with  pork  in 


218  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

0 

barrels  and  some  live  hogs.  The  boat  ran  with  such  force 
upon  the  dam  that  the  bow  ran  over  and  was  clear  out  of  the 
water  and  the  water  in  the  boat  ran  forward,  so  by  boring  a 
hole  in  the  boat  at  the  front  it  was  lightened  up  and  ran  over 
the  dam. 

Mr.  Offit  bought  a  stock  of  goods  and  hauled  them  from 
Beardstown  to  Salem,  set  up  a  store,  and  engaged  Lincoln  as 
clerk.  This  was  Lincoln's  advent  to  Salem. 

Salem  now  began  to  build  up.  There  was  Jack  Kelso, 
the  hunter  and  fisherman ;  Jonathan  Miller,  the  blacksmith ; 
Henry  Onstot,  the  cooper,  and  Robert  Johnson,  the  wheel 
wright ;  William  Berry,  the  grocery  keeper,  and  others  whose 
names  are  not  mentioned.  Lincoln  raised  a  company  for 
service  in  the  Black  Hawk  war.  No  member  of  that  com- 
pany is  now  living,  though  many  of  their  sons  are  still  in 
Menard  county.  They  never  saw  any  fighting.  Black 
Hawk  had  sold  his  reservation  in  Iowa,  and  white  men  could 
not  wait  for  the  details  of  the  sale  to  be  consummated  and  had 
rushed  in  to  get  the  best  lands,  and  Black  Hawk  was  going 
to  hold  the  lands  until  the  treaty  was  complied  with.  When 
Lincoln  was  elected  to  the  legislature  in  1834  he  set  out  on 
foot  with  only  one  suit  of  homespun  clothes.  Lincoln  was 
a  popular  man  with  all  classes  of  people. 

The  next  settlement  of  any  note  was  Concord,  four  and 
one-half  miles  north  of  Petersburg.  The  settlement  was  all 
made  in  the  timber.  Ten  or  twenty  acres  of  land  would  be 
grubbed  out  and  fenced,  while  the  finest  prairie  land  in  the 
world  was  ready  for  the  pioneers  plow  without  grubbing  it. 
I  don't  know  why  this  was  done  unless  they  thought  they 
would  freeze  to  death  on  the  prairie. 

The  young  man  of  the  present  day  has  but  little  concep- 
tion of  the  manners  and  costumes  of  the  early  settler,  and  it 
is  strange  how  such  a  complete  revolution  could  have  been 
made  in  the  last  half  century.  It  would  be  impossible  to 
give  the  youth  of  today  a  just  conception  of  the  clothing,  the 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  219 

duelling  and  diet  and  social  costumes,  everything  having  un- 
dergone a  complete  revolution.  It  may  truthfully  be  said 
that  the  cabins  of  the  early  settlers  were  but  little  in  advance 
of  the  three- faced  camp  of  the  first  pioneers,  the  house,  being 
of  hewn  or  rough  logs,  the  cracks  filled  in  with  mortar 
made  of  clay  mixed  with  straw.  If  the  floor  was  made  of 
anything  else  but  earth  trampled  down  until  it  was  hard,  it 
was  made  of  puncheons  split  out  of  a  straight  grained  tree 
and  about  four  inches  thick.  It  was  hewn  out  with  an  axe 
and  then  laid  down  on  stumps  of  round  oak  and  not  nailed 
down  and  then  crevises  large  enough  for  the  children  to  run 
their  feet  through.  The  roof  was  covered  with  shakes  held 
down  with  weight  poles.  For  a  fireplace  one  whole  end  of 
the  house  was  taken,  the  lower  part  was  lined  up  with  stone 
or  clay  for  five  or  six  feet.  About  a  cord  of  wood  was  neces- 
sary for  a  fire.  A  buckeye  back  log  and  then  a  fore  stick  about 
half  as  large  set  on  dog  irons  filled  in  with  kindling  wood. 
There  was  no  Such  thing  as  matches  in  those  days,  and  it 
was  a  customary  thing  to  borrow  fire  at  the  neighbors  to 
start  a  fire  or  perchance  the  old  flint  rock  would  be  brought 
into  use  to  strike  fire  with.  The  upper  part  of  the  chimney 
would  be  built  with  sticks  laid  in  mortar.  This  would  often 
get  on  fire  in  the  day,  but  would  be  put  out  before  going  to 
bed.  The  door  would  be  made  of  boards  nailed  or  pinned 
together,  so  dear  reader,  you  have  some  idea  of  the  houses 
your  ancestors  lived  in.  A  buck  string  was  attached  to  the 
latch  and  allowed  to  hang  on  the  outside,  hence  the  old  say- 
ing, "you  will  always  find  the  latch  string  on  the  outside." 
As  cook  stoves  had  not  been  invented,  a  flat  oven  and  a  skillet 
were  the  utensils,  which,  with  a  teakettle  completed  the 
cooking  outfit.  The  skillet  was  used  to  fry  the  meat  in  while 
the  oven  was  set  on  a  bed  of  coals,  and  the  house  wife  would 
take  a  gallon  of  corn  meal  and  mix  it  up  stiffly  and  mould  it 
into  shape  by  changing  it  from  one  hand  to  the  other,  and 
then  tip  it  into  the  oven,  patting  it  to  the  desired  thickness. 
About  three  of  these  corn  cakes  would  fill  the  oven. 


22O  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

When  the  lid  of  the  oven  was  covered  with  live  coals  and 
the  dodgers  baked  hard  enough  to  knock  a  Texas  steer  down, 
the  imprints  of  the  fingers  would  be  left  on  the  corn  cakes. 
This  made  the  dodgers  a  legal  tender.  Lye  hominy  was 
also  an  article  of  diet  which  no  well  regulated  household 
could  afford  to  dispense  with.  Sugar  was  unknown  except 
where  the  sugar  trees  abounded.  Honey  was  found  in  the 
timber  everywhere  as  the  bees  held  undisputed  sway.  Pre- 
serves were  made  with  honey  from  grapes,  crab  apples;  etc., 
but  they  were  only  opened  when  company  came,  and  then  we 
also  had  biscuits,  but  corn  bread,  honey  and  hog  was  the 
chief  diet. 

The  clothing  was  of  the  simplest  kind  in  early  days.  The 
men  wore  pants  of  buckskin,  caps  of  coon  or  fox  skins,  while 
the  feet  of  both  sexes  were  covered  with  the  moccasin.  Cot- 
ton goods  were  very  scarce  and  difficult  to  get.  The  men 
raised  flax  and  rotted  and  broke  it,  the  women  would  then 
spin  and  weave  it  and  make  it  up  into  garments.  It  was  al- 
most useless  to  have  sheepon  account  of  the  numbers  of  black 
and  gray  wolves  that  roamed  the  timbers  and  prairies,  and 
would  destroy  whole  flocks  of  sheep  in  a  single  night.  So  af- 
ter they  began  to  raise  hemp  and  flax  the  people  began  to  ap- 
pear in  a  better  garb.  This  made  good  underwear,  also  towels 
and  tablecloths.  When  the  people  came  to  this  new  country 
they  brought  an  immense  lot  of  clothing  with  them  that 
lasted  for  several  years.  In  an  early  day  it  did  not  take  as 
many  widths  of  cloth  for  a  dress  as  now.  I  have  known  a 
farmer  to  buy  a  bolt  of  factory  cloth  and  have  it  colored 
orange,  and  then  have  it  made  up  for  his  family.  Girls 
from  five  to  sixteen  all  had  an  orange  colored  dress  with 
three  widths  or  so  in  it.  If  a  girl  had  to  jump  a  branch, 
she  had  to  take  into  consideration  the  width  of  her  dress. 
The  boys  had  a  pair  of  pants  made  out  of  tow  linen,  with  a 
suit  of  flax  for  Sunday,  and  the  boys  from  eight  to  twelve 
years  of  age  had  no  other  clothing  than 'a  long  tow  linen 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  221 

shirt.  In  the  winter  they  .were  supplied  with  buckskin  pants, 
moccasin  shoes,  and  sometimes  a  blue  jeans  coat.  After 
sheep  began  to  be  raised  by  the  settlers,  flannel  and  linsey 
was  woven  for  the  women  and  jeans  for  the  men.  While 
dye  stuffs  were  scarce,  walnut  bark  was  used  which  made  a 
butternut  color  which  is  still  used  in  the  South.  Everybody 
did  their  own  spinning,  and  if  a  person  wanted  to  hire  a  girl,, 
the  first  question  asked  was  "How  many  cuts  can  you  spin?" 
A  dozen  cuts  was  a  day's  work,  though  there  were  girls  that 
could  go  from  fifteen  to  twenty  cuts  a  day.  Not  every 
family  had  a  loom,  as  it  took  up  too  much  room,  unless  they 
had  an  outhouse  for  the  loom.  You  could  hear  the  weavers 
go  whack — whack — during  the  fall  and  winter  all  over  the 
country.  Boots  were  a  luxury  that  few  indulged  in.  I 
never  had  a  pair  of  boots  until  I  was  twelve  years  old,  and 
then  it  was  only  by  accident.  I  was  the  first  boy  in  Peters- 
burg who  had  a  pair.  In  summer  time  boys  and  girls  went 
bare- footed,  and  in  Menard  county  boys  had  stone  bruises  on 
their  feet  nearly  all  summer.  It  was  mostly  in  the  heel  of 
the  foot  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  under  the  skin.  A 
gathering  of  matter  resulting  from  a  bruise  would  commence 
sometimes.  A  razor  would  be  used  to  pare  down  the  skin 
so  as  to  open  the  bruise.  I  have  seen  boys  with  a  stone 
bruise  on  one  heel.  On  the  other  foot  there  would  be  a 
stone  bruise  on  the  toes,  and  the  poor  boy  would  have  to  navi- 
gate on  one  heel  and  one1  toe. 

The  agricultural  implements  were  fully  up  to  everything 
else.  There  were  no  steel  clipper  plows,  only  a  wooden 
mould  board  for  breaking  up  the  ground,  that  would  not 
scour  a  rod  in  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  A  paddle  had  to  be  car- 
ried with  the  plow.  The  corn  was  cultivated  with  the  hoe 
or  bull  tongue,  or  a  very  rude  kind  of  a  shovel  plow.  All 
planting  was  done  by  marking  off  two  ways  with  a  shovel 
plow  and  then  dropping  and  covering  with  a  hoe.  All  team- 
ing was  done  with  ox  teams,  and  it  was  no  uncommon  sight 
to  see  four  to  six  yoke  hitched  to  a  large  plow. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
NAVIGATION  ON  THE  SANGAMON 

N  EARLY  days  before  railroads  were  invented 
or  dreamed  of,  the  people  of  Springfield  and 
Menard  county  looked  forward  to  the  time 
when  steamboats  would  be  the  means  of 
sending  their  surplus  products,  and  bringing  back  goods  and 
merchandise.  In  fact  the  navigation  of  the  river  was  more 
feasible  then  than  now.  The  great  bodies  of  timber  along 
the  stream  had  never  been  acquainted  with  the  woodman's 
axe,  and  the  stream,  with  the  exceptions  of  a  few  overhang- 
ing trees  and  a  few  unimportant  drifts,  was  a  stream  that 
offered  but  few  impediments  to  navigation.  The  river  fur- 
nished a  more  steady  supply  of  water  then  than  now.  The 
winter  snow  and  the  summer  rains  supplied  the  water,  and 
the  earth,  not  being  trampled  by  stock  as  at  present,  the 
Sangamon  was  evenly  fed  the  whole  year.  As  far  back  as 
1831  the  experiment  was  tried  of  loading  a  steamer  at  Al- 
ton with  merchandise.  There  were  no  bridges  across  the 
stream,  and  the  steamer  had  no  difficulty  in  making  the  trip 
till  it  arrived  at  the  Salem  dam,  where  it  stuck.  By  un- 
loading a  part  of  the  cargo  and  using  a  capstand, 'it  was 
pulled  over  the  dam  and  went  on  its  way  rejoicing.  In  a 
few  years  the  Utility,  a  stern  wheeler,  came  up  and  laid  at 
the  Salem  mill  for  a  week  or  ten  days.  I  was  o/d  enough  to 
remember  the  Utility.  It  attracted  great  attention.  Farm- 
ers came  for  miles  around  to  see  it.  The  river  began  to  fall 
and  it  was  dismantled  at  Petersburg,  and  its  machinery  was 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  223 

put  in  the  first  mill,  while  the  pine  lumber  used  in  its  con- 
struction was  used  in  building  houses  in  Petersburg.  The 
engine  was  a  large  single  engine,  and  it  did  good  service  for 
many  years.  It  stood  in  the  mill  as  late  as  1841,  though  the 
mill  had  gone  down.  This  ended  the  navigation  of  the 
Sangamon,  as  railroads  had  begun  to  come  in  use.  -A  horse 
boat  was  built  in  1845.  The  Gamels  came  from  Sugar 
Grove.  Major  Hill,  with  a  few  others,  cut  a  big  black  wal- 
nut tree  in  the  grove.  The  tree  was  80  feet  long,  it  was 
split  straight  and  hauled  to  Petersburg,  and  the  boat  was 
built,  but  a  sufficient  amount  of  power  was  not  obtained  to 
propel  the  boat  up  stream  even  when  empty. 


WARLIKE  SPIRIT  OF  MENARD  COUNTY 

Little  Menard  has  always  had  a  warlike  character.  In 
my  childhood  there  were  still  living  in  its  bounds  two  sol- 
diers who  had  fought  in  the  Revolutionary  war.  One  was 
the  father  of  James  Short  who  was  an  early  friend  of  Lin- 
coln's. He  lived  north  of  Petersburg.  It  was  old  man 
Short  who  killed  sixteen  wild  turkeys  at  one  shot  and  the  re 
coil  of  the  gun  broke  his  leg.  The  other  was  Daddy  Boger 
who  lived  in  Wolf.  He  was  a  basket  maker  and  he  would 
come  to  Petersburg  every  Saturday  with  a  basket  on  each 
arm  and  every  person  in  those  days  had  a  Boger  basket  made 
out  of  the  best  white  oak  splits.  They  were  what  was  called 
hoop  baskets,  and  were  very  strong  and  substantial.  In 
1844  slavery  was  either  to  have  more  territory  or  to  go  out 
of  existence,  we  went  to  war.  The  cry  was  Polk  and  Texas. 
Texas  had  achieved  her  independence  from  Mexico  with  the 
Rio  Grande  river  as  the  western  boundary.  In  the  election 


224  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

the  south  and  Polk  were  triumphant,  and  Henry  Clay,  who 
had  rather  be  right  than  president,  was  beaten.  The  slave 
power  now  ran  wild  and  instead  of  stopping  at  the  Rio 
Grande  river,  demanded  that  the  line  of  Texas  be  moved 
two  hundred  miles  farther  west  to  the  Rio  Nuses,  which 
Texas  had  never  claimed.  The  Whigs  opposed  this  claim, 
though  when  it  came  to  voting  supplies  to  carry  on  the  war, 
they  voted  for  them  on  the  principle  of  "Our  Country,  right 
or  wrong."  So  when  our  troops  were  moved  over  next  to 
Mexico,  it  took  no  time  to  start  the  war,  and  then  it  wa,s 
published  all  over  the  country  that  American  blood  had  been 
spilled  on  American  soil.  This  was  enough.  When  the 
average  American  gets  the  smell  of  human  blood,  he  usually 
goes  in  for  all  it  is  worth.  So  the  war  was  started,  and 
Illinois  furnished  four  regiments.  Col.  Baker  and  CoL 
Hardin,  as  good  men  as  Illinois  ever  produced,  raised  regi- 
ments in  the  central  part  of  the  state.  Col,  or  General  Hardin 
laid  down  his  life  at  Buena  Vista,  while  Col.  Baker  re- 
served his  life  for  Ball's  Bluff,  in  the  Rebellion.  Menard 
county  furnished  one  company  of  stalwarts.  A.  D.  Wright 
was  elected  captain,  William  C.  Clary,  first  lieutenant, 
Sheldon  Johnson,  second  lieutenant,  and  Robert  Scott,  third 
lieutenant.  The  company  had  eighty-two  men  in  its  ranks, 
but  death  cut  a  wide  swath  in  its  ranks.  The  climate 
robbed  the  country  of  more  than  half  of  its  men.  Some 
were  killed  in  battle,  so  not  more  than  one-half  of  the  men 
returned,  and  some  of  those  who  did,  came  back,  had 
the  seeds  of  disease  planted  in  their  systems  and  soon  died. 
In  fact  it  is  in  all  wars,  those  who  return,  come  home  to  die 
or  linger  out  the  rest  of  their  days  in  pain,  so  it  is  doubtful 
whether  there  will  be  a  single  Mexican  soldier  alive  in  two 
years  from  date.  There  were  only  six  alive  in  1898,  and 
several  have  died  since.  Tom  Watkins  died  only  two  years 
ago.  He  was  more  widely  known  than  any  of  them.  The 
capture  of  Santa  Anna  with  a  lot  of  treasure  and  the  wooden 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  225 

leg  of  Santa  Anna,  who  was  compelled  to  leave  it  in  great 
haste  to  save  his  own  person,  was  an  episode  of  the  war. 
Thomas  L.  Harris'  name  is  mentioned  in  connection  with 
this  with  several  men  from  Pekin.  As  one  of  the  results  of 
the  war,  we  acquired  New  Mexico  and  California,  though 
we  paid  them  $15,000,000  for  the  latter.  It  turned  out 
to  be  a  good  investment,  as  the  gold  in  California  was  dis- 
covered about  that  time.  The  slave  power  now  ran  mad  and 
stopped  at  nothing  to  extend  their  arena  of  slavery.  In  this 
they  sealed  their  doom,  as  the  last  straw  broke  the  camel's 
back,  so  things  were  carried  to  the  point  until  the  north  arose 
in  their  right  and  said:  "Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no 
farther." 

We  have  said  that  the  first  settlers  of  Menard  were  nat- 
ural born  fighters.  They  came  from  fighting  ancestors. 
Their  sires  came  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  Virginia, 
and  the  way  they  settled  their  differences  was  to  knock  it 
out.  Even  to  this  day  whole  families  are  wiped  out  and  in 
a  few  years  the  other  family  grows  strong  enough  to  wipe 
out  the  other  family  out.  These  things  have  existed  for 
generations.  In  my  childhood  the  military  existed  in  Men- 
ard more  than  at  the  present  time.  With  our  schools  for 
learning  the  art  of  war,  a  citizen  can  be  made  into  a  soldier 
in  a  short  space  of  time.  I  recollect  when  every  person 
liable  to  military  duty  had  to  muster  two  days  in  each  year. 
Andrew  Moore  of  Indian  Point  was  captain  and  a  very  im- 
portant man  was  he  with  a  military  suit  on.  He  looked 
soldier  like,  but  his  most  impressive  toggery  was  an  old  silk- 
hat  caved  in  at  the  sides,  with  a  red  plume  on  top.  Andy, 
with  solemn  mein,  would  give  the  word  of  command  and  the 
troops  would  automatically  obey.  Muster  days  which  would 
come  in  August  were  red  letter  days. 

In  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  little  Menard  never  had  a 
draft,  but  furnished  her  quota  of  troops.     It  has  been  said, 
to  her  discredit,  that  she  had  many  citizens  who  were  op- 
is 


226  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

posed  to  the  war,  but  we  know  that  Democrats  and  Re- 
publicans poured  out  about  the  same  amount  of  their  best 
blood  on  their  country's  altar  to  save  the  Union,  and  that 
all  were  patriotic  in  their  own  way,  though  they  all  could 
not  see  just  alike.  Menard  had  enrolled  1,084;  killed  in 
battle,  26;  died  of  wounds,  19;  killed  by  accident,  2; 
wounded,  26;  died  in  prison,  8;  died  of  disease,  129;  de- 
serted, 50;  total  death  from  all  causes,  184.  A  great 
many  died  on  returning  home  from  disease  contracted 
during  the  war.  "Our  Country,  right  or  wrong,"  although 
it  would  not  hold  good  between  neighbors,  yet  when  ap- 
plied to  our  nation,  has  always  been  the  rallying  cry.  The 
last  war  was  right,  the  war  ten  years  from  now  will  be 
right,  and  we  have  men  who  will  hurrah  for  the  war 
fifty  years  from  now.  General  Sherman  said  :  "War  means 
hell."  In  the  destruction  of  property  or  life  it  means  the 
wounding  and  rriaining  of  the  youth  of  our  land,  and  yet 
we  hear  it  said  every  day  that  the  war  helps  our  business 
and  our  trade,  and  we  don't  care  how  long  the  war  lasts, 
so  we  thrive  by  it. 


SOME  EARLY  SETTLERS 

Among  the  early  settlements  at  New  Market,  Bellaro 
was  the  center.  It  competed  for  the  court  house.  On  the 
north  side  lived  Russell  Godby,  a  strong  old  Jackson  Demo- 
crat, of  dignified .  appearance,  a  man  of  good  common 
sense.  At  all  the  Democratic  meetings  he  was  always 
elected  chairman.  He  settled  on  the  farm  on  which  he  died. 
The  farm  south  of  Ballard's  was  entered  by  my  uncle,  David 
Onstot,  in  1824.  He  sold  out  to  Coleman  Smoot  at  an 
early  day  and  moved  to  Taney  county,  Mo.,  giving  up  some 
of  the  finest  land  in  Illinois  for  the  mountainous  county  in 
Missouri.  Uncle  Dave  was  of  a  restless  spirit,  and  when 
he  had  half  a  dozen  neighbors  in  a  half  dozen  miles,  he 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  227 

said  the  country  was  getting  too  thickly  settled  up  for  him. 
and  he  did  not  propose  to  be  crowded  out,  so  he  emigrated. 
He  had  some  enterprise  and  built  a  horse  mill,  run  by  an 
incline  wheel.  The  reason  he  gave  for  moving  to  Taney 
county,  Mo.,  was  that  cattle  could  run  out  all  winter  with- 
out feed,  the  country  being  in  the  southern  tier  of  counties. 
He  made  a  trip  back  to  Illinois  in  1844,  and  was  much  sur- 
prised at  the  improvements  in  Menard  county,  and  I  think 
would  have  been  glad  could  he  have  gotten  back.  Coleman 
Smoot  lived  on  the  farm  till  he  died.  His  house  was  on  a 
beautiful  ridge  next  to  the  timber.  He  had  a  large 
orchard  of  fine  apples  and  raised  many  hogs  and  cattle 
for  market,  and  was  considered  in  good  circumstances, 
though  he  never  gave  up  peddling  apples.  The  last  time 
we  saw  Coleman  Smoot  was  at  Camp  Butler.  He  had  a 
load  of  apples  and  a  barrel  of  cider.  The  soldiers  thought 
a  rich  man  like  Smoot  ought  to  give  them  the  apples  free 
of  charge,  so  when  he  was  driving  up  a  hill  in  the  camp, 
they  pulled  out  his  end  gate  and  his  apples  all  run  down 
the  hill.  He  did  not  stop  to  pick  them  up  but  drove  home 
with  his  barrel  of  cider.  Smoot  made  a  trip  to  St.  Louis 
every  spring,  taking  his  bacon  and  surplus  produce  and 
bringing  back  his  groceries  and  goods.  He  lived  to  a  good 
old  age.  His  son,  William,  was  his  only  child.  He  built 
on  the  hill  east  of  the  old  home,  and  still  lives  there. 

A  half  a  mile  west,  past  the  edge  of  the  timber,  was 
one  of  the  first  settlers,  William  Sampson,  another  uncle 
of  mine,  an  eccentric  old  man.  His  house  was  a  place  for 
all  the  movers  that  were  going  north  from  Menard  to 
Mason.  They  always  aimed  to  get  to  Sampson's  to  stay 
all  night.  I  don't  think  he  ever  charged  them  anything, 
so  his  house  was  a  popular  resort.  I  think  I  speak  in 
bounds  when  I  say  that  as  many  as  forty  persons  have 
stayed  all  night  at  Uncle  Billy's.  It  was  pretty  hard  on 
Aunt  Hannah  to  make  beds  all  over  the  floor  for  such  a 
large  crowd  and  also  feed  them,  but  Sampson  had  a  large 


228  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

amount  of  bread  and  meat  and  this  crowd  kept  it  from 
spoiling.  Besides  Sampson  was  a  great  talker  and  could 
learn  a  lot  of  news  from  these  travelers.  He  had  eight 
large  stalwart  boys  and  two  girls,  which  made  him  a  large 
family.  He  had  come  from  Virginia  in  an  early  day  and 
had  first  settled  on  the  west  side  of  the  river  near  Shipley's, 
but  after  marrying,  moved  on  the  east  side  of  the  river  where 
he  lived  till  it  got  too  thickly  settled  for  him..  He  then 
moved  down  near  Greenview.  We  said  Sampson  was  ec- 
centric. A  little  anecdote  will  illustrate.  He  had  a  neigh- 
bor by  the  name  of  Rodgers  whose  wife  died.  Sampson 
and  Rodgers  were  great  friends,  and  at  the  funeral  Samp- 
son and  his  friend  had  been  imbibing  a  little  too  much,  and 
while  filling  up  the  grave  Rodgers  gave  Sampson  a  hunch 
and  told  him  to  get  in  the  grave  and  tramp  it.  Sampson 
jumped  down  in  the  grave  and  commenced  to  tramp  the  dirt. 
The  shovelers  took  him  by  the  arm  and  helped  him  out.  He 
was  heartily  ashamed  of  his  work  and  it  was  a  by-word  in 
the  community  for  a  year,  "Get  it  and  tramp  it." 

James  Estill  settled  north  of  Sampson,  and  the  place  i* 
known  yet  as  the  Estill  place.  About  half  way  to  Peters- 
burg and  Indian  Creek.  This  stream  supplied  power  to  a 
mill  that  both  sawed  lumber  and  ground  meal.  It  was  down 
in  the  hollow.  The  road  both  in  the  east  and  the  west  came 
down  a  very  steep  hill.  The  hill  on  the  west  must  have 
been  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high.  I  once  took  a  grist  of 
corn  there  on  horseback  and  when  half  way  down  the  sack 
and  I  slipped  over  the  horse's  head. 

One  of  the  old  stand-bys  of  the  county  is  Gus  Riggins ; 
first  a  school  master,  then  circuit  clerk  for  eight  years.  He 
lived  to  be  an  old  bachelor,  marrying  when  fifty  years  old. 
He  has  since  resided  on  his  farm,  a  well  educated  and  in- 
telligent man,  well  versed  in  the  affairs  of  the  county,  state 
and  nation,  fluent  in  conversation  and  an  old  time  Demo- 
crat. He  has  for  sixty  years  followed  the  party  through 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  229 

adversity  and  prosperity.  Defeat  only  seemed  to  strengthen 
him  in  his  principles.  His  name  is  a  guarantee  for  integrity 
and  honesty. 

A  little  farther  south  one  of  the  solid  men  in  his  day 
was  Nicholas  Tice,  a  small,  heavy  set  German,  the  father 
of  John  Tice.  He  always  rode  a  sorrel  mare,  with  a  slit  in 
the  face.  He  was  a  funny  little  old  man  and  the  boys  in 
Petersburg  always  had  lots  of  fun  with  Mr.  Tice.  He 
would  sometimes  get  a  little  jubilant,  but  was  always  in  a 
good  humor.  A  little  farther  south  lived  Andy  Branson,  a 
great  talker.  He  would  go  to  Salem  Mill,  riding  on  a  grist 
of  corn  and  on.  the  way  he  would  stop  at  my  father's  shop 
and  talk  the  hat  off  your  head.  I  recollect  a  case  of  absent- 
mindedness  he  showed.  He  came  riding  on  his  sack  of  meal, 
with  his  saddle  tied  on  behind  him.  Father  bought  a  bushel 
of  his  meal.  He  then  put  his  saddle  on  his  horse  and  the  sack 
on  the  saddle  and  started  for  home.  In  half  an  hour  he 
came  trotting  in  a  great  hurry  up  to  the  shop  door,  calling 
out  to  father,  saying:  "Henry,  Henry,  I  forgot  my  saddle." 
When  he  saw  he  was  riding  on  it  he  rode  away,  somewhat 
crestfallen. 

Between  Indian  Creek  and  the  Sangamon  lived  a  num- 
ber of  solid  citizens.  They  were  John  Jennison,  Henry 
Clark,  John  Minor,  George  Curry,  James  Baxter,  Abner 
Baxter,  Sylvester  Baker,  McNabb  and  many  others  whose 
names  do  not  readily  come  to  my  mind. 

In  the  early  days  the  mail  was  carried  from  Petersburg 
to  Athens  on  horseback  once  a  week.  The  Brooks  boys  car- 
ried it.  It  was  a  slim  affair,  as  there  were  no  papers  printed 
then.  The  Illinois  Journal  and  the  State  Register  were  the 
only  papers  in  Springfield.  Athens  was  in  a  rich  country, 
but  before  the  black  diamonds  were  discovered,  it  did  not 
assume  must  importance,  as  the  farmers  around  there  went 
to  Springfield  to  do  their  trading.  We  well  recollect  being 
in  Sprinfield  in  1835  an(^  the  little  brick  court  house,  with 


230  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

its  cupola  covered  with  tin,  and  ponds  of  water  where  the 
old  state  house  stood.  How  changed  Athens  is  now ;  sur- 
rounded by  the  best  population  in  Menard.  Go  to 
any  country  and  the  quality  of  the  land  determines  the  char- 
acter of  the  people. 

A  few  miles  brings  us  across  the  river  into  Wolf,  the 
mouth  of  Rock  Creek.  The  inhabitants  of  Wolf  were  from 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  and  were  wolfish  in  their  nature 
when  collected  in  large  bodies.  There  were  the  Tibbs,  the 
Wisemans,  the  Pembertons,  the  Hornbuckles,  the  Hohimers 
and  the  Duncans.  The  boundaries  of  Wolf  were  Rock 
Creek  on  the  south,  Sangamon  on  the  east,  Purkapile 
Branch  on  the  north  and  the  Springfield  road  on  the  west. 
Most  of  the  early  farms  in  Wolf  were  made  in  the  barrens, 
as  the  timber  was  then  called.  Isaac  Smerck,  we  recollect 
as  the  first  settler,  came  from  the  lead  mines  in  1832.  He 
brought  $2,000  in  clean  Cash  and  entered  one  hundred  and 
sixty  acres  of  this  grub  land,  and  with  a  large  ox  team 
brought  his  land  into  cultivation.  Any  brush  that  the  yoke 
could  bend  down  the  plow  could  break  up.  Smerck  could 
have  entered  one  thousand  five  hundred  acres  of  the  best 
prairie  land  in  the  country,  but  he  thought  that  a  man  could 
not  live  on  the  prairie.  His  soil  was  only  a  fe\v  inches  thick. 
Smerck  had  an  ox  that,  when  he  was  being  unyoked,  would 
jump  back  as  quick  as  lightning.  One  time  he  struck  his 
master  in  the  face  with  his  horn  and  came  near  killing  him, 
and  he  was  not  able  to  work  much  after  that.  Smerck  had 
a  large  lot  of  relatives  on  his  wife's  side  that  ate  him  out 
and  he  moved  to  Mason  county,  but  they  followed  him  up 
and  he  had  to  feed  them  as  long  as  he  lived. 

Jack  Pemberton  will  be  remembered  as  a  fat,  jolly  man. 
He  weighed  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  and  was  con- 
stable. He  was  a  great  story  teller.  After  he  moved  to 
Mason  county  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature.  When  the 
county  seat  was  moved  to  Petersburg,  old  Man  Purkapile 


HISTORY  OF  M^ENARD  COUNTY.  231 

lived  on  the  southwest  corner  and  was  a  noted  character. 
He  was  the  father  of  James  and  George  Purkapile.  Being 
the  seventh  son,  he  was  supposed  to  be  endowed  with  cura- 
tive powers.  Many  children  were  taken  to  him  to  be  cured 
of  the  rash  and  he,  by  simply  blowing  in  their  mouth,  would 
effect  a  cure.  Shirley's  mill,  near  the  mouth  of  Rock  Creek, 
did  a  good  business,  and  when  there  was  water  enough  sawed 
lots  of  lumber.  The  old  Menard  House,  in  Petersburg, 
got  its  lumber  from  this  mill,  and  many  a  grist  of  corn  that 
made  the  dodger  for  the  good  housewife,  came  from  Shir- 
ley's mill.  But  time  has  obliterated  the  last  vistage  of  the 
mill,  and  not  one  stone  has  been  left  of  the  dam  or  mill. 
There  were  a  number  of  families  by  the  name  of  Miller 
that  lived  in  Wolf,  so  many  that  they  were  distinguished 
by  some  title.  One  that  was  larger  than  the  rest  was  known 
by  the  name  of  Greasy  George  Miller.  They  were  all  good 
fighters.  On  the  Springfield  road,  running  south,  were  the 
Nances,  the  Winns  and  the  Goldbeys.  James  Goldbey  was 
the  first  sheriff  of  Menard  county  and  was  a  very  influential 
citizen  as  long  as  he  lived.  The  Nances  were  also  above  the 
average  in  intelligence.  Mrs.  Parthena  Hill  was  a  sister  of 
Thos.  Nance,  while  the  Winns  were  a  noted  family.  L.  B. 
Winn  was  elected  to  the  legislature  after  he  moved  to 
Petersburg.  These  pioneers  have  long  since  moved  to  the 
Silent  City  and  the  second  and  third  generations  have  taken 
their  places. 

Rock  Creek  was  early  settled  with  an  energetic  class  of 
people,  the  Cogdals  on  the  west  of  the  Springfield  road. 
There  were  Elijah  and  Isaac  Cogdal.  Isaac  was  an  all 
around  man.  He  had  a  large  stone  quarry  and  burnt  lime. 
He  furnished  the  stone  for  the  foundation  of  the  old  court 
house  in  Petersburg  in  1842,  and  all  the  lime  that  was  used 
in  an  early  day.  Isaac  Cogdal  was  quite  a  noted  politician 
and  was  always  up  for  some  office.  He  was  a  Whig.  He 
had  the  misfortune  to  lose  one  arm  in  making  a  blast.  He 


232  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

was  a  tall,  good  looking  man,  while  his  brother,  Elijah, 
was  a  man  of  not  much  force,  but  a  good  citizen  and  a  law- 
abiding  man.  West  of  Cogdals  lived  Osborne,  a  farmer  in 
good  circumstances.  Robert  Conover  married  one  of  his 
daughters  for  his  second  wife. 

We  now  come  to  Blacks.  He  had  a  number  of  girls  and 
boys.  His  oldest  daughter  married  Lige  Taylor.  Her  name 
was  Beckey.  Sam  was  one  of  the  boys.  We  were 
acquainted  with  a  man  by  the  name  of  Stephenson  who  lived 
near  old  Tarleton  Lloyd.  We  cannot  refrain  from  giving 
an  incident  in  his  life,  though  perhaps  we  have  mentioned  it 
before.  The  first  Mrs.  Lloyd,  having  died,  in  due  time 
Lloyd  thought  he  might  take  another  wife.  So  he  fixed 
his  affections  on  Catherine  Keltner,  of  Salem,  whose  father 
kept  the  old  tavern.  She  was  a  buxom  lass  of  twenty  sum- 
mers, a  good  worker.  Though  the  Keltners  were  very  poor, 
but  respectable  the  marriage  created  great  excitement  and 
their  neighbors  contributed  largely  toward  the  wedding 
feast,  some  a  few  chickens,  some  a  turkey,  some  a  fat  pig, 
some  flour,  until  enough  was  brought  in  to  make  a  royal 
dinner,  and  then  the  women  brought  in  dishes  and  helped 
to  cook  the  dinner.  The  Keltners  were  in  high  glee  and  they 
reasoned  like  this :  Lloyd  is  sixty  and  may  live  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  more,  while  Catherine  is  twenty  and  may  live 
fifty  years.  At  Lloyd's  death  Catherine  will  have  a  good 
home  left  her  and  plenty  to  live  on.  The  argument  looked 
very  plausible,  but  alas,  Catherine  died  at  the  age  of  sixty, 
after  having  raised  a  large  family,  while  Lloyd  lived  to  be 
one  hundred  and  four  years  old.  The  Lloyd  family  appeared 
to  be  long  lived,  as  some  of  the  children  of  the  first  wife  are 
still  living.  Near  Lloyds  lived  Milo  Wood,  a  harnessmaker. 
He  owned  a  small  farm  and  had  a  number  of  boys.  Alex, 
one  of  his  sons,  was  also  a  harnessmaker.  Mack  Woods, 
another  son,  went  to  the  Mexican  war  and  after  his  return 
was  elected  coroner.  After  he  was  qualified,  James  Taylor, 
who  was  sheriff  died,  and  Wood  was  then  sheriff,  but  in 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  233 

settling  up  the  accounts  they  did  not  pan  out,  and  Wood  was 
deposed  from  office. 

We  now  come  to  the  the  noblest  Roman  of  them  all, 
the  Rev.  John  M.  Berry,  who  did  as  much  to  civilize  and 
christianize  the  central  part  of  Illinois  as  any  other  living 
man.  Tall  and  well  formed,  he  stood  like  Paul  among  the 
prophets,  head  and  shoulders  above  his  brethren.  He  was 
a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  minister,  well  versed  in  the 
doctrines  of  his  church.  Old  John  Berry,  as  he  was 
familiarly  called,  worked  hard  on  his  farm  six  days  in  the 
week  and  on  Sunday  preached  when  he  could  get  an 
audience.  He  was  a  great  friend  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
he  was  the  cause  of  Lincoln  taking  his  son  into  partnership, 
but  Bill  Berry  turned  out  bad  and  became  a  drinking  man 
and  gambler,  and  died  a  total  wreck.  This  nearly  broke 
his  father's  heart,  and  while  he  still  preached,  he  always 
wore  a  solemn  look  and  was  seldom  seen  to  smile.  West 
of  Berry's  was  the  Rock  Creek  camp  ground.  As  we  have 
written  that  up  in  another  part  of  this  book,  we  will  let 
that  suffice. 

Elihu  Bone  lived  near  by.  He  deserves  more  than  or- 
dinary mention.  He  had  a  large  family  of  girls  and  boys. 
Jack  Bone,  his  oldest  son,  is  still  alive,  though  near  ninety 
years  old.  He  bought  and  marketed  cattle  in  early  days 
and  sold  his  cattle  in  the  St.  Louis  market.  He  has  been 
in  the  Chicago  Stock  Yards  at  Chicago  for  forty  years,  but 
is  now  retired.  Jack  did  not  resemble  any  of  the  Bone 
family,  being  of  medium  height  and  dark  complexioned, 
while  the  rest  of  the  boys  were  tall  and  light  complexioned. 
Several  of  the  boys  had  red  hair.  Most  of  the  boys  settled 
around  their  father.  Robert's  house  was  close  to  the  camp 
ground.  He  \vas  an  influential  man.  Elihu  Bone  once 
represented  Menard  county  in  the  legislature,  with  credit 
to  himself  and  his  constituents.  Elihu  Bone  was  a  very 
conscientious  man,  and  though  living  in  a  community  where 


234  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

rowdyism  was  rampart,  he  never  had  any  lawsuits  or  diffi- 
culties with  his  neighbors.  In  his  dealings  he  was  always 
conscientious  and  upright.  The  country  would  have  been 
better  off  if  all  the  early  settlers  had  been  men  of"  Elihu 
Bone's  character.  There  were  the  Combs,  and  the  Yokums 
and  the  Pennys  that  lived  on  the  south  side  of  Rock  Creek 
Coming  north  we  find  old  Billy  Green,  the  fathertof  a  large 
family  of  Greens. 

Ned  Potter  was  one  of  the  earliest  pioneers  of  the  coun- 
try. He  was  a  large,  jolly  fellow.  He  had  a  good  sugar 
camp  and  Mrs.  Potter's  maple  sugar  was  legal  tender  for 
all  debts,  public  or  private.  The  timber  in  this  locality 
was  nearly  half  sugar  trees.  A  little  farther  north  was 
Felix  Green,  who  was  the  oldest  of  the  Green  boys. 

Who  in  Menard  county  has  not  heard  of  Levi  Summers 
and  his  grammatical  style  of  talking?  He  murdered  more 
of  the  English  language  than  any  other  man  in  his  day 
and  his  sayings  are  repeated  in  the  county  to  this  day. 
He  had  a  large  family,  mostly  girls.  Fanny  married  Henry 
Balls,  Esther  married  Hardin  Bale,  but  Uncle  Levi  always 
bet  on  his  son,  Jimmy.  About  a  half  mile  east  lived  one 
of  the  best  known  men  in  Menard  county,  Cousin  Mentor 
Graham,  who  taught  in  nearly  every  district  in  the  county 
after  it  was  organized.  He  was  a  peculiar  man.  The 
writer  went  to  school  to  him,  first  at  the  Baptist  Church 
at  Felix  Green's;  next  in  Salem,  then  at  the  house  east  of 
his  farm.  He  taught  over  fifty  years.  If  Cousin  Mentor 
took  a  liking  to  a  scholar,  he  fared  well,  if  not,  the  scholar 
had  a  hard  time  of  it.  Cousin  Mentor  believed  in  govern- 
ing a  school  by  force.  He  always  kept  a  lot  of  good 
switches  on  hand  would  often  call  up  a  scholar  and  make 
him  hold  out  his  hand  and,  with  his  rule,  lay  on  the  licks 
until  the  scholar  would  beg  for  mercy.  Graham  was  well 
versed  in  the  common  branches  of  the  English  language. 
Graham  raised  a  large  family,  mostly  girls,  who  married 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  235 

well  and  settled  in  the  county.  '  North  of  Grahams  was 
Tom  Watkins,  but  as  our  account  of  him  will  be  found  in 
another  part  of  the  book  we  will  give  him  a  rest. 

Across  the  prairie,  west,  we  make  a  jump,  as  the  prairies 
were  not  settled  in  pioneer  days.  George  Spears  is  the 
central  figure.  He  built  a  brick  house  before  we  were  born. 
Spears  was  one  of  the  early  settlers.  As  soon  as  the  howling 
wolf  had  left  the  grove  or  some  time  before  and  ere  the 
Indian  yell  had  died  away,  the  hardy  emigrant  had  pitched 
his  rude  cabin  and  was  ready  for  the  battle.  The  early 
fathers  were  a  brave  and  hardy  race.  Spears  was  a  man 
well  fitted  for  a  new  country,  strong  in  body,  cool  in  judg- 
ment. He  was  not  at  a  loss  to  settle  all  the  questions  that 
might  arise.  Spears  had  a  large  family,  who,  in  turn,  raised 
large  families.  Robert  Conover  was  another  man  of  in- 
fluence. He  was  a  close  neighbor  of  Spears'.  In  his  latter 
days  he  bought  the  Bennett  Able  place  near  Petersburg. 
Then  there  was  the  Bells,  several  of  them,  Abraham,  Isaac, 
Silas,  James;  these  we  have  named  were  all  good,  sober, 
reliable  citizens,  who  gave  character  to  the  grove.  There 
was  the  Whites,  old  Jimmy  White  was  the  oldest  of  them. 
He  was  elected  to  the  legislature  one  term.  He  was  honest 
but  eccentric.  If  he  had  a  bill  to  introduce,  he  would  make 
a  short  speech,  telling  what  an  advantage  it  would  be  to  the 
country.  The  members  of  the  early  legislature  were  made 
up  of  honest  farmers,  while  today  it  is  composed  of  third 
class  lawyers  and  burners,  who  would  sell  their  grandmothers 
for  a  mess  of  potatoes. 

John  Kiner  lived  near  where  Tallula  is  now  located.  He 
was  not  a  large  farmer,  did  not  own  more  than  one  hundred 
and  forty  acres.  He  was  a  son-in-law  of  White  Kinner  and 
depended  a  great  deal  on  his  orchard.  He  had  the  finest 
Bellflower  apples  in  the  county  and  always  brought  them  to 
town  in  sacks  to  the  great  disgust  of  the  boys,  who  could  not 
sample  them. 


236  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

Col.  Judy  is  an  old  citizen  of  great  energy  and  has  a  great 
reputation  throughout  Illinois,  Kentucky  and  Missouri  as  an 
auctioneer  of  fine  stock.  North  of  Clary's  Grove  we  come  to 
c.  little  old  man,  who  was  the  central  figure  in  Petersburg 
in  the  "forties" — Jesse  Gum.  He  had  a  large  tract  of 
good  farm  land  and  raised  a  large  number  of  big  boys,  big 
stalwart  fellows,  that  could  throw  a  two-year-old  Texas 
steer  over  the  fence  by  the  tail,  but  Uncle  Jesse's  best  hold 
was  peddling.  He  had  a  cart  and  a  small  yoke  of  oxen. 
His  main  articles  of  trade  were  honey  and  sweet  potatoes. 
Uncle  Jesse  always  endeavored  to  impress  the  people  with 
the  idea  that  honey  and  sweet  potatoes  were  mightly  scarce. 
After  he  had  sold  out  his  load  and  trade  a  little  he  would 
take  his  seat  in  the  cart,  and  the  black  steers  would  head 
for  home  without  a  driver.  A  little  further  north  lived 
Uncle  Johnny  Watkins,  Gaddie  Davis,  Joe  Watkins  and 
Lige  Jones,  more  familiarly  known  as  old  Snag.  There 
were  three  of  the  Jones  boys,  Lige,  Bill  and  John.  Old 
Snag  always  called  his  wife  Fattie.  Lige  Jones  was  a  good 
neighbor,  but  a  very  profane  man  and  addicted  to  the 
use  of  liquor.  His  team  finally  ran  away  and  killed  him. 
The  Jones  were  all  tall,  good  looking  men,  and  'were 
fighters,  though  Gaines  Green,  when  only  a  boy,  whipped 
Bill  Jones  at  a  race  at  Joe  Watkins'  track.  John  Jones 
was  a  fiddler  and  ground  out  the  music  of  the  cat  gut  at 
many 'a  dance  in  Menard  county.  He  finally  moved  to  Iowa. 
The  Jones  could  always  be  found  at  Petersburg. 

Tom  Dowels  was  a  quiet  man  and  had  the  respect  of  his 
neighbors.  He  did  not  farm  very  extensively,  and  had 
plenty  of  boys  to  do  his  work.  Then  in  the  same  community 
lived  the  Bonds  and  Arnolds  and  the  Arterberrys.  Old 
Daniel  Arterberry  was  a  tall,  raw  boned  man,  who  had  a 
tremendous  grip  in  his  hand,  and  if  you  were  not  careful  in 
shaking  hands  with  him,  he  would  crush  every  bone  in  your 
hand.  He  had  such  powerful  strength  in  his  hand  that  he 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  237 

made  every  fellow  afraid  of  him.  Daniel  Arterberry  was 
well  known  all  over  the  county  as  a  good  law-abiding  citizen. 
There  were  numerous  families  of  the  Arterberry's  and  to  this 
day  the  village  of  Arterberry  derives  its  name  from  some 
of  these  descendants. 

We  will  now  swing  around  to  the  Miller's  Ferry,  where, 
in  1846,  lived  Peter  Ellmore.  He  was  a  jolly,  good  natured 
old  fellow,  unlettered,  and  could  neither  read  nor  write,  but 
gathered  up  what  information  he  could  from  his  surround- 
ings. We  often  stopped  with  Uncle  Peter  over  night  as  a 
half  way  house  between  Havana  and  Petersburg,  and 
always  found  him  in  an  inquisitive  mood.  "Where  have 
you  been?"  said  he.  We  told  him  "out  to  Springfield." 
"Is  the  legislater  sitten?"  he  would  ask,  and  then  we  would 
tell  him  a  long  story  about  what  they  were  doing,  and 
Uncle  Peter  would  say,  "The  Lord  deliver  us."  Miller's 
Ferry,  where  Uncle  Peter  lived,  was  once  surveyed  for  a 
town  and  was  called  Huron.  My  brother,  R.  J.,  has  a  plat 
of  it  in  Abraham  Lincoln's  own  handwriting  and  prizes  it 
very  highly.  The  town  looks  very  fine  on  paper,  though 
there  was  only  one  house  in  it  in  its  earliest  days.  K. 
Watkins  is  now  the  sole  owner  of  Huron,  "and  is  monarch 
of  all  he  surveys." 

Concord  was  settled  in  an  early  day.  Samuel  Berry,  a 
brother  of  John  M.  Berry,  James  Pantier,  William  Rutledge, 
Reason  Shipley,  Jack  Clary  and  Rile  Armstrong  were  the 
first  settlers.  Jack  Clary  first  settled  at  Clary's  Grove,  but 
was  living  at  Concord  as  far  back  as  I  can  recollect.  He 
had  a  large  family  of  boys,  of  which  Rile  Clary  is  the  oldest. 
Samuel  Berry  lived  south  of  Concord  Church,  was  a  very 
religious  man  and  could  exhort  as  well  as  any  of  the 
preachers.  He  was  a  very  solemn  man,  and  seldom  laughed 
or  cracked  a  joke.  William  Rutledge  was  one  of  the  large 
family  of  Rutledges.  His  son,  McGrady,  died  two  years 
ago.  He  was  over  eighty  years  old.  Reason  Shipley 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 


lived  north,  near  the  Sangamon  river.  George  Kirby  lived 
a  few  miles  farther  north  than  Squire  Masters.  We  met 
Kirby  and  Masters  two  years  ago.  They  were  both  eighty  - 
six  and  were  both  strong  for  that  age. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


CITY  OF  PETERSBURG 

MONO  the  early  settlers  of  Petersburg  were  the 
Taylors,  John  Wamsing,  the  Davidsons,  Ches- 
ter Moon,  Charles  Brooks,  Martin  Morris,  the 
Colbys,  George  Warberton,  Peter  Lukins,  A. 
D.  Wright,  Dr.  John  Allen,  Dr.  Bennett,  Henry  Onstot, 
James  and  William  Hoeys.  The  Bennetts  came  from  old 
Virginia.  James  Carter  came  from  Virginia.  He  was  a 
cabinetmaker.  Jacob  Lanning  came  from  New  Jersey  in 
1838.  The  Lanning  family  still  live  in  and  around  Peters- 
burg. John  McNamer  lived  in  Salem  and  after  its  decline 
moved  to  his  farm  north  of  town.  Chas.  B.  Waldo  was  the 
village  schoolmaster.  He  and  Nathan  Dresser  were  brother- 
in-laws.  Dresser  was  the  first  circuit  clerk.  George  U. 
Miles  was  a  prominent  merchant  with  his  wife's  brother, 
James  McCoy.  Martin  Morris  was  a  fine  blacksmith. 
Robert  Bishop  was  a  gunsmith  and  served  in  the  Mexican 
war.  George  Warberton  and  Peter  Lukins  were  at  one 
time  the  proprietors  of  the  town.  They  both  were  addicted 
to  drink.  Lukins  went  by  taking  an  overdose  of  poison. 
He  was  one  of  three  brothers,  Jesse  and  Gregory,  being  the 
other  two.  We  stated  in  another  chapter  that  Gregory  died 
in  Sugar  Grove.  In  this  we  are  mistaken,  as  he  died  in 
Topeka,  Mason  county,  about  ten  years  ago.  The  Brahms 
settled  north  of  Petersburg.  They  were  Germans  and  at 
one  time,  with  John  Wamsing,  were  the  only  Germans  in 


240  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

the  county,  with  the  exception  of  Peter  Himmel,  who  lived 
in-  Petersburg  one  year  before — he  moved  to  Mason  county. 
The  Colbys  were  wagonmakers  and  had  their  shop  on  the 
branch  just  north  of  the  Charter  Oak  mills. 

The  Bales  lived  at  Salem  till  Hardin  moved  his  ma- 
chine to  Petersburg  in  1841,  on  the  west  side  of  the  street 
from  Onstot's  cooper  shop.  Jacob  Bale  first  lived  west  of 
Petersburg.  The  Bales  appeared  to  be  adapted  to  the  run- 
ning of  machinery.  Aaron  B.  White  was  a  carpenter  and 
builder,  and  finally  studied  theology  and  made  the  discussion 
of  baptism  his  hobby.  William  McNeely  and  his  brother, 
Tilton,  were  prominent  citizens  of  the  county.  William 
was  a  bricklayer  and  plasterer  and  lived  in  Salem  when 
it  was  in  its  glory.  He  then  moved  out  to  the  prairie  west 
of  Salem,  but  for  forty  years  was  a  resident  in  the  suburbs 
of  Petersburg.  Thos.  McNeely  was  a  son  of  Tilton's,  who 
was  a  merchant.  These  persons  comprise  most  of  the  early 
settlers  around  Petersburg. 

Petersburg  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  west  bank  of 
the  Sangamon  river,  where  the  Chicago  &  Alton  crosses  the 
Sangamon.  It  was  first  called  the  Springfield  &  North- 
western. Since  the  advent  of  railroads  the  glory  of  the 
Sangamon  has  departed.  The  river  is  spanned  with  numer- 
ous bridges,  which  are  built  without  draws,  and  could 
not  be  navigated  even  were  there  plenty  of  water. 

Petersburg  has  many  fine  residences  on  the  bluffs  which 
belong,  we  are  told  to  lawyers.  "They  toil  not,  neither  do 
they  spin,  yet  Solomon,  in  all  his  glory,  was  not  arrayed 
like  one  of  these."  No  discredit  to  lawyers.  Peter  Lukins 
and  George  Warberton  did  not  have  much  success  in  sell- 
ing Petersburg  town  lots,  so  they  sold  out  to  John  Tay- 
lor and  Hezekiah  King,  who  infused  new  life  into  the 
town  and  it  began  to  grow.  Lots  sold  high.  My  father 
paid  $300  for  two  lots,  that  had  a  branch  running  through 
them  at  an  angle.  As  Petersburg  grew,  Old  Salem  dimin- 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  241 

ished.  The  trade  that  Hill  had  in  Salem  was  transferred 
to  the  Taylors  and  Bennetts  and  Hoeys  at  Petersburg, 
and  the  trade  that  went  to  Springfield  also  went  to  Peters- 
burg. There  was  no  trading  point  on  the  north  until  Ha- 
vana was  reached.  Abraham  Lincoln  re-surveyed  Peters- 
burg and  had  the  plat  recorded  February  22,  1836.  The 
town  was  named  for  Peter  Lukins.  Warberton  wanted  it 
called  Georgetown.  They  finally  agreed  to  play  a  game  of 
old  sledge.  Lukins  won  and  the  town  'was  called  Peters- 
burg. 

The  first  lawyer  was  David  M.  Rutledge,  a  brother  of 
Anna  Rutledge,  who  was  engaged  to  marry  Lincoln,  but 
whose  untimely  death  prevented  the  consummation  of  the 
contract.  Dr.  Bennett  was  the  first  practicing  physician. 
The  first  school  was  taught  by  Charles  B.  Waldo.  It  was 
taught  in  1837  in  the  south  part  of  town  in  a  log  cabin. 
A  frame  schoolhouse  was  built  in  1840  on  the  hill  south  of 
Dr.  Allen's.  It  was  out  in  the  hazel  brush  and  was  reached 
by  circuitous  paths. 

Tallula  is  situated  in  the  extreme  part  of  the  county  and 
is  a  prosperous  town.  It  was  laid  out  in  1857  by  W.  G. 
Green,  J.  G.  Green,  Richard  Yates,  Theodore  Baker  and 
W.  G.  Spears.  Tallula  is  in  the  center  of  the  first  settle- 
ment of  Menard  county.  Jack  Clary  was  the  first  man.  He 
settled  upon  the  farm  that  George  Spears  lived  on  so  long. 
Clary  then  moved  to  Concord,  where  he  lived  half  of  a  cen- 
tury. The  Whites  and  Bells  lived  in  the  suburbs  of  Tallula 
sixty  years  ago.  Tallula  was  a  fine  grain  and  stock  market 
from  the  start  and  the  country  was  thickly  settled.  The 
farms  were  of  the  finest  soil. 

Away  in  the  north  part  of  the  county  lies  Oakford.  It 
was  laid  out  in  1872.  Located  on  the  Springfield  and 
Northwestern  Railroad.  It  has  no  competition  on  the  north 
until  Kilbourne  is  reached.  None  south  till  Petersburg  is 
reached,  which  is  ten  miles  away.  None  on  the  west  til! 

16 


242  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

you  come  to  Chandlerville.  None  on  the  east  till  you  come 
to  Greenview.  The  proprietors  of  the  town  were  William 
Oakford  and  William  Colson.  The  land  belonged  to  Colson 
and  he  gave  Oakford  one-half  of  the  town  for  securing  the 
railroad.  The  town  lies  a  few  miles  below  Miller's  Ferry, 
which  had  been  used  for  fifty  years  as  a  crossing  from 
Springfield  to  Havana.  At  one  time  the  county  seat  ques- 
tion was  to  be  settled,  a  town  was  laid  out  at  Miller's  Ferry 
called  Huron,  but  when  that  question  was  settled,  Huron 
went  into  liquidation.  William  Oakford  built  the  first  store- 
room. In  the  summer  of  1872  Cal  Arterberry  opened  a 
general  store.  Sutton  Bros,  finally  bought  out  the  store 
and  then  sold  out  to  Sam  Watkins.  In  1873  S.  A.  Bennett 
started  a  drug  store,  so  the  business  houses  in  Oakford  kept 
changing  hands.  Oliver  Maltby  and  J.  W.  Walker  started 
a  harness  shop.  C.  P.  Smith  run  a  confectionery  store.  J. 
S.  Carter,  from  Petersburg,  run  a  furniture  store,  but  closed 
it  out  and  run  a  saloon.  Gilbert  Skaggs  built  the  first 
blacksmith  shop.  The  village  started  on  the  road  to  pros- 
perity, but  soon  relapsed  into  a  state  of  inoccuous  disuetude. 
A  murder  was  committed  here  in  1879,  in  which  James 
McElhe  lost  his  life  at  the  hands  of  A.  J.  McDonald. 
There  was  a  good  farming  country  around  Oakford.  The 
Sangamon  bottom  north  of  the  town  is  the  finest  land  in  the 
world,  but  subject  to  overflow  on  the  west.  The  pecan 
bottom  was  settled  away  back  in  the  "thirties."  Robison 
Mills  was  long  and  favorably  known  as  the  center  of  trade. 
Oakford  is  the  only  town  in  the  county  that  has  no 
coal  shaft.  "The  black  diamonds"  have  not  been  unearthed. 
If  there  is  any  coal  in  the  town  or  vicinity  it  is  so  deep  that 
it  would  not  be  profitable  to  mine  it.  The  hills  and  bluffs 
around  Oakford  extend  for  miles  and  on  the  Sangamon 
river  it  seems  as  if  the  mound  builder  that  inhabited  the 
country  before  the  Indian  had  become  an  extinct  race 
and  had  left  nothing  to  explain  the  building  of  the  mounds, 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  243 

so  a  person  has  to  imagine  and  speculate  as  to  what  kind  of 
a  race  they  were.  One  thing  we  know,  they  must  have 
been  a  very  industrious  race  to  have  built  the  chain  of 
mounds  from  the  mouth  of  Salt  Creek  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Sangamon. 

We  will  now  cross  the  river  and  land  at  Greenview.  This 
town  was  laid  out  in  a  pioneer  day  on  the  Chicago  and 
Alton  Railroad  at  the  northwest  corner  of  Sugar  Grove.  It 
may  be  well  termed  the  Gem  of  the  Prairie.  If  one  of  the 
early  settlers  of  Sugar  Grove  had  been  told  that  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  a  busy  bustling  young 
city  should  spring  up  in  the  open  prairie,  where  the  Indians 
once  held  undisputed  sway,  where  the  wolves  made  night 
hideous  with  their  noise,  he  would  have  listened  with  in- 
credulity. The  country  around  Greenview  was  settled  in 
an  early  day.  It  was  laid  out  by  Wm.  Engall,  October 
2,  1857.  The  land  was  once  owned  by  Chas.  Montgomery. 
Its  name  was  in  honor  of  W.  G.  Goken,  a  prominent 
Menard  county  farmer.  The  first  house  was  built  by  Robt. 
McReynolds.  James  Stone  put  up  the  second.  The  first 
brick  house  was  built  by  John  Wilkinson  and  was  converted 
into  a  hotel.  One  of  the  first  business  houses  was  built  by 
McReynolds,  the  two  first  stores  were  McReynolds  and 
Meyer  Bros.  Silas  Beekman  had  a  store  before  the  rail- 
road was  built.  The  first  hotel  was  kept  by  John  Wilkin- 
son. The  first  blacksmith  shop  was  built  by  Jacob  Propse. 
The  first  doctors  were  Davis  and  Calloway.  The  first  grain 
merchant  was  Harvey  Yeaman. 

Greenview  is  a  great  grain  center.  Most  of  the  corn  is 
fed  to  cattle  and  hogs,  while  a  large  amount  of  wheat  is 
annually  shipped  and  a  large  amount  of  stock  is  shipped  to 
Chicago.  Greenview,  since  the  mining  of  coal,  is  a  place 
of  great  importance.  Several  hundred  tons  are  daily  raised 
and  shipped  to  the  surrounding  towns.  The  coal  is  said 
to  be  of  a  superior  quality.  Its  coal  interest  is  what  gives 


244  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

Greenview  its  commercial  importance,  as  it  gives  employ- 
ment -to  a  large  number  of  workmen,  who  in  turn,  spend 
their  money  in  the  town.  A  large  public  square  is  located 
in  the  heart  of  the  town,  which  helps  its  looks. 

Sweet  water,  in  the  northeastern  part  of  the  Grove,  was 
once  a  place  of  prominence.  In  the  days  when  Bill  Engle 
was  a  power  in  the  community.  Engle  was  a  great  trader. 
He  kept  country  store  and  went  to  St.  Louis  or  New  Or- 
leans once  a  year.  He  would  gather  up  the  produce  and 
have  it  hauled  to  Beardstown,  then  have  it  shipped  south 
and  then  go  down  and  sell  it  and  bring  back  groceries.  We 
may  have  related  the  big  onion  crop  that  Bill  raised  one 
year,  but  will  tell  it  again.  He  had  been  to  New  Orleans 
one  fall  and  saw  red  onions  selling  at  two  dollars  per 
bushel.  He  bought  enough  seed  to  sow  eight  acres.  He  had 
eight  acres  of  pasture  land  that  was  very  rich  and  he  planted 
them.  He  raised  a  large  crop  and  he  housed  two  thousand 
bushel.  My  father  had  made  him  three  hundred  barrels  to 
ship  them  in  but  that  fall  onions  would  not  pay  the  freight, 
and  Engle  had  to  sell  them  out  to  his  neighbors  at  ten  cents 
per  bushel  and  had  plenty  of  onions  left.  Coal  is  also  mined 
at  Sweetwater,  there  being  no  way  of  shipping  it  by  rail,  it 
supplies  the  wagon  trade.  There  was  a  splendid  body  of 
timber  in  the  grove  in  an  early  day.  Large  walnut  trees 
were  cut  in  the  grove.  The  gunnels  of  a  house  boat,  that 
was  to  run  on  the  Sangamon,  were  gotten  out  in  Sugar 
Grove.  But  the  machinery  loaded  down  the  boat  and  it  had 
no  power  to  stem  the  current  in  ascending  the  river. 

The  village  of  New  Market  existed  only  on  paper.  It 
was  laid  out  by  Dr.  Ballard  and  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Spears.  Ballard  put  up  a  large  two-story  house,  intended 
for  a  hotel,  but  it  was  never  needed.  Clarke  opened  up  a 
store,  Sanders  and  Rodgers  a  blacksmith  shop.  With  the 
location  at  Petersburg  it  dwindled  away  in  to  nothingness. 
The  place  is  now  occupied  by  Aunt  Nancy  Rule  as  a  farm. 


HISTORY  OF  M.ENARD  COUNTY.  245 

ATHENS 

The  village  of  Athens  is  situated  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  the  county,  and  next  to  Salem  and  Petersburg  is  the 
oldest  town  within  the  bounds  of  Menard  county.  The 
village  site  is  a  level  plain  and  the  country  around  it  is  the 
most  prosperous  land  in  the  state.  Wood  and  coal  are  found 
in  inexhaustible  quantities.  The  coal  lies  within  one  hundred 
feet  of  the  top  of  the  ground.  The  town  of  Athens  was 
surveyed  and  platted.  In  laying  out  the  town  forty  acres 
were  platted  and  additions  from  time  to  time  have  been 
made.  Two  cabins  were  built.  One  for  a  residence,  the 
other  for  a  blacksmith  shop,  by  a  man  named  Clarge.  Col. 
Matthew  Rodgers  built  the  first  house  of  any  importance. 
John  Overstreet  was  the  first  merchant  of  the  village^  hav- 
ing purchased  the  stock  of  Harry  Riggins.  Jonathan  Dunn 
was  the  second  merchant  of  the  village.  In  1833  Harry 
Riggins  and  Amberry  Rankin  opened  a  store,  but  soon  sold 
out  to  Martin  Morgan.  James  D.  Allen  and  Simon  Clark 
were  the  next  merchants.  In  1839  Sebastian  Stone  became 
a  partner  of  Allen's  and  remained  in  business  for  some  time. 
The  goods  in  those  days  were  all  hauled  from  St.  Louis  by 
ox  teams  and  it  took  several  days  to  make  the  trip.  The 
arrival  of  a  few  loads  of  goods  was  a  great  event  of  the 
day.  The  people  came  from  far  and  near  to  see  these  new 
goods.  Athens  had  from  the  start  to  compete  with  Spring- 
field in  competition  with  the  trade.  It  was  not  until  the 
opening  up  of  the  coal  interest  that  Athens  began  to  leap 
forward  in  the  race  for  mercantile  supremacy.  In  the  year 
of  1834  Overstreet  ground  up  a  flat-boat. of  flour  and  in 
company  with  Jesse  and  David  Hunt  shipped  it  to  New 
Orleans.  In  early  days  Athens  was  noted  for  its  pottery 
factories.  Crocks  and  jugs  were  manufactured  and  sent  in 
peddler  wagons  all  over  the  state  for  sale.  All  kinds  of 
produce  were  taken  in  exchange  and  farmers  all  around 


246  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

Athens  when  they  wanted  to  raise  a  little  money  they 
would  go  to  Athens  and  get  a  load  of  crockery  and  return 
with  the  produce  and  trade.  Money  was  scarce  and  trade 
and  barter  were  the  order  of  the  day.  So  the  pioneers  of 
early  days,  while  they  had  to  submit  to  many  privations, 
were  a  happy  people  and  contented  with  their  lot. 

Up  the  Sangamon  river,  south  of  Miller's  Ferry,  K. 
Watkins  holds  the  fort.  While  on  the  east  of  the  road  to 
Petersburg  lives  Squire  Masters  and  George  Kirby,  both  well 
up  to  ninety  years  old.  Reason  Shipley  lived  near  the 
river.  A  little  farther  south  was  the  old  Concord  Church, 
around  which  lived  James  Pantier,  William  Rutledge, 
Samuel  Berry  and  a  score  of  the  Clarys,  while  on  the  San- 
gamon river  lived  Anno  Ritter.  Here  is  where  my  father 
would  buy  a  dozen  white  oak  trees  in  the  spring  for  stave 
timber  and  cut  them  in  the  spring  when  the  bark  would 
peel  and  get  enough  bark  off  the  trees  to  pay  for  them. 
Anno  Ritter  was  surveyor  of  Menard  county  for  one  term 
and  died  on  his  farm  and  was  a  respected  citizen. 

Gregory  Lukins  lived  in  the  "forties"  between  Ritter's 
and  Petersburg  on  the  Harris  place. 


A  LETTER  FROM  H*  L.  ROSS 

MR.  T.  G.  ONSTOT: 

I  understand  you  are  getting  up  a  history  of  Menard 
and  Mason  counties.  I  thought  I  might  be  able  to  render 
you  some  assistance  in  getting  up  the  history  of  Mason 
county,  as  there  is  probably  few  men  now  living  who  know 
as  much  about  the  history  of  Mason  as  myself. 

Mason  county  was  originally  a  part  of  Tazewell,  and 
my  father,  O.  M.  Ross,  in  all  probability  built  the  first 
house  and  ploughed  the  first  land  in  the  county.  In  1821 
he  moved  from  St.  Clair  county  to  what  is  now  Fulton 


248  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

county.  In  1822  he  built  a  house  in  Havana  on  the  bank 
of  the  Illinois  river,  where  the  city  of  Havana  now  stands. 
At  that  time  he  established  a  ferry  across  the  river.  The 
nearest  ferry  on  the  south  was  at  Beardstown  and  on  the 
north  at  Peoria  at  Fort  Clark.  He  engaged  a  man  to 
build  a  house  and  run  the  ferry  for  him,  and  gave  him 
one-half  of  the  proceeds  and  the  use  of  twenty  acres  of 
land.  -At  that  time  the  land  had  not  yet  come  into  market, 
but  was  government  land,  but  in  1827  Ross  entered  one 
thousand  acres  of  land  at  $1.25  .per  acre.  The  land  lay 
up  and  down  the  river,  including  the  land  where  Havana 
now  stands.  It  also  included  the  land  where  Bath  stands. 
O.  M.  Ross  moved  from  Fulton  county  to  Havana  in  1826 
and  built  the  Havana  Hotel,  and  opened  up  a  farm  of  two 
hundred  acres  east  of  Havana.  The  Indians  had  settled 
up  and  down  the  river  in  great  numbers,  Wigwams  could 
be  numbered  by  the  hundreds.  The  squaws  would  cultivate 
a  few  patches  of  ground,  which  they  would  dig  up  and 
plant  in  corn,  beans  and  other  vegetables,  while  the  In- 
dians hunted  and  trapped.  At  that  time  all  the  county 
north  of  'the  Sangamon  and  south  of  the  Mackinaw  and 
east  of  the  Illinois  river  for  fifteen  miles,  was  a  vast  plain, 
where  horses  and  droves  of  deer  roamed  at  will.  There 
were-but  two  roads  laid  out  then,  one  running  from  Ha- 
vana to  Springfield,  which  crossed  the  Sangamon  at  Miller's 
ferry,  fifteen  miles  south  of  Havana.  This  road  ran  through 
Salem  and  Sangamontown.  The  other  road -crossed  Salt 
Creek,  and  ran  through  Athens,  and  crossed  the  Sangamon 
four^miles  north  of  Springfield.  In  1829  there  was  not  a 
house  between  Miller's  Ferry  and  Havana,  nor  between 
the  ferry  at  Salt  Creek  and  Havana.  In  1831,  John  Mounts 
and  John  Yardly  settled  on  the  road  leading  from  Havana 
to  Miller's  Ferry,  not  far  from  Crane  Creek.  Mounts 
settled  on  the  west  side  and  Yardly  on  the  east  side. 
Mounts  built  a  mill  on  Crane  Creek,  which  was  the  first 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  249 

mill  in  Mason  county.  The  next  mill  was  built  by  Pal- 
lard  Simmons  on  Quiver  Creek,  five  miles  northeast  of 
Havana.  In  1838,  this  Simmons,  who  is  the  same  man  who 
lived  near  Salem  in  former  years,  on  one  occasion  while 
there,  met  John  Calhoun,  the  county  surveyor.  Calhoun 
informed  Simmons  that  he  had  decided  to  appoint  Lin- 
coln as  deputy  surveyor,  if  he  would  accept  the  appoint- 
ment. The  next  day  Simmons  went  to  Salem  and  inquired 
for  Mr.  Lincoln,  and  was  told  he  was  working  in  the 
woods.  Simmons  found  him  working  at  his  old  occupa- 
tion making  rails.  They  both  sat  down  on  a  log  and 
Simmons  told  Lincoln  what  Calhoun  had  said.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln was  surprised  that  Calhoun  should  appoint  him  his 
deputy,  when  he  was  a  Henry  Clay  Whig  and  Calhoun 
was  a  Jackson  Democrat,  but  Lincoln  said  that  as  soon  as 
he  got  the  rails  made,  he  would  go  to  Springfield  and  see 
Calhoun  about  it,  so  in  a  few  days  he  walked  to  Spring- 
field to  see  Mr.  Calhoun  and  told  him  that  he  would  ac- 
cept the  appointment  if  he  had  the  assurance  that  it  would 
not  interfere  in  any  way  with  his  political  obligations  and 
that  he  might  be  permitted  to  express  his  opinions  as  freely 
as  he  chose.  The  assurance  was  given  and  he  received  the 
appointmnt. 

The  next  man"  that  settled  on  the  road  to  Miller's  Ferry 
was  Gibson  Garrett.  He  settled  on  the  edge  of  the  timber 
nine  miles  south  of  Havana,  near  where  the  village  of 
Kilbourne  stands. 

The  first  settlers  of  Havana  in  1830  were  John  Bash, 
Carle  Armstrong,  Sylvester  Whipple,  A.  B.  Shafer,  Ben- 
jamin Hult,  Bethilt  Roberts,  John  Nettleman  and  Robert 
Corsea. 

Nettleman  was  a  Frenchman  and  ran  a  keel  boat  on  the 
Illinois  river  for  two  years.  In  the  spring  of  1830  he 
piloted  the  steamboat  Liberty  from  St.  Louis  to  Peoria, 
which  was  the  first  boat  that  ran  up  the  Illinois  as  far  as 
Havana. 


•250  HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY. 

The  Indians  that  first  settled  near  Havana  and  up  and 
down  the  river  were  friendly  and  appeared  to  want  to  live 
peaceably  with  the  whites,  if  fairly  treated,  but  if  imposed 
on,  would  fight.  They  had  several  burying  places  on  the 
bluff  near  Havana.  One  of  them  was  the  mounds  below 
Havana,  the  other  was  the  mounds  above  Havana.  The 
Indians  regarded  the  burying  places  of  their  dead  with 
great  reverence,  and  any  desecration  of  them  would  cause 
great  hostility  among  them,  and  the  perpetrator,  if  found 
out,  would  be  severely  dealt  with.  There  was  a  little  cir- 
cumstance connected  with  this  that  we  will  relate  and  that 
nearly  terminated  in  a  tragedy.  John  N.  Ross,  a  brother 
of  O.  M.  Ross,  who  had  been  residing  in  Kentucky  for 
a  couple  of  years,  was  married  to  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy 
slave  holder  of  that  state,  and  as  he  was  a  Quaker  and 
strongly  opposed  to  slavery,  he  and  his  young  wife  moved 
to  Illinois  and  stopped  at  Havana  and  bought  eighty  acres 
where  the  bluff  and  river  came  together,  upon  which  the 
two  mounds  stood.  The  mounds  stood  about  fifty  feet 
apart,  and  John  Ross  and  his  young  wife  were  well  pleased 
with  the  location  for  a  dwelling  and  determined  to  build 
a  house  on  it  between  the  two  mounds  on  the  river,  which 
would  give  them  a  handsome  view  up  and  down  the  river. 
He  had  a  carpenter  at  work  on  it  and  they  had  it  almost 
finished  when  a  company  of  hunters  and  trappers  came  over 
from  Fulton  county  and  commenced  to  dig  and  desecrate 
the  mounds.  It  happened  that  seven  years  before  one  of 
the  chiefs  had  lost  by  death  two  of  his  children,  a  son  and 
daughter,  and  they  had  been  buried  in  the  north  mound. 
It  was  the  custom  to  bury  a  number  of  articles  with  their 
dead  male  Indians,  such  things  as  a  tomahawk,  a  large 
knife  and  a  bow  and  arrow,  and  with  the  squaws  many 
articles  of  wearing  apparel,  silver  bracelets,  strings  of  beads, 
etc. 


HISTORY  OF  MENARD  COUNTY.  251 

These  hunters  dug  open  the  graves  of  this  young  Indian 
and  his  sister  and  carried  away  all  they  wanted,  and  when 
the  old  chief  found  out  that  his  children's  graves  had  been 
desecrated  and  many  of  the  articles  buried  with  them  had 
been  carried  away  also,  his  anger  was  aroused  to  the  high- 
est pitch.  He  gathered  together  a  number  of  the  principal 
Indians  and  was  ready  to  start  out  on  the  war-path,  but 
he  came  to  Havana  to  see  O.  M.  Ross  about  the  matter, 
with  whom  he  had  always  been  on  friendly  terms.  Ross 
told  him  that  he  would  do  all  in  his  power  to  find  out  the 
perpetrators  and  have  them  brought  to  justice.  It  was 
found  that  the  men  lived  on  the  other  sjde  of  the  river 
and  that  the  people  on  the  Havana  side  of  the  river  had 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  They  became  more  reconciled,  but 
if  the  men  could  have  been  found  who  desecrated  the  graves, 
they  would,  in  all  probability,  have  been  killed  by  the  In- 
dians for  what  had  taken  place.  J.  N.  Ross  became  so 
alarmed,  that  his  wife  was  not  willing  to  live  in  the  place, 
so  he  moved  back  to  Kentucky,  and  the  place  was  never 
occupied  until  the  Indians  moved  out  of  the  country. 

HARVEY  LEE  Ross. 


History  of  mason  County 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

ASON  COUNTY  was  one  of  the  last  counties 
in  Central  Illinois  that  was  opened  up  for  set- 
tlement, although  there  were  portions  of  it  on 
which  white  men,  in  an  early  day,  had  made 
some  improvements.  Havana  had  white  men,  who,  in 
early  times,  had  cast  their  lots  among  the  red  men  and  to 
whose  ears  the  howling  of  the  wolf  was  music.  The  county 
is  ill-shaped,  with  a  forty  mile  frontage  on  the  Illinois 
river  and  only  a  few  miles  of  that  suitable  for  building 
purposes  on  the  west.  On  the  south  the  Sangamon  river 
and  Salt  Creek  form  the  natural  boundaries,  running  to  a 
narrow  point  at  its  southern  boundary  and  widening  out 
at  its  northern  boundary.  It  might  well  be  called  the  county 
between  the  two  rivers,  hemmed  in  as  it  were  by  natural 
boundaries,  except  the  northeastern  corner,  where  a  stretch 
of  the  best  land  in  the  county  lies.  From  the  Mackinaw 
to  Salt  Creek  you  can  shake  hands  across  a  strip  of  county 
twenty-five  miles  long. 

The  land  in  Mason  county  might  have  been,  in  an  early 
day,  divided  into  three  classes;  first  the  timber  lands  that 
lay  up  high.  They  were  very  sandy  and  were  covered  with 
a  scrubby  growth  of  timber.  There  was  not  much  under- 
growth, as  the  annual  forest  fires  kept  that  down.  Most  of 


254  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

the  trees  left  standing  had  the  tops  blown  off  and  were 
hollow  and  hundreds  of  swarms  of  bees  were  taken  out 
every  fall.  In  these  forests  the  wild  deer  roamed  at  will 
and  hunters  from  Menard  would  come  every  fall  and  load 
down  their  wagons  with  venison  and  wild  honey.  These 
forests,  in  an  early  day,  furnished  the  hardy  pioneers  with 
timber  for  rails  to  fence  their  farms,  for  it  was  not  thought 
that  a  man  could  live  on  the  bleak  prairie  without  shelter, 
so  the  pioneer  came  and  made  his  small  clearing  in  the 
brush,  where  the  land  was  poor  and  yielded  only  a  small 
return  for  tlje  labor  bestowed.  The  forest  fires  were  a 
sure  thing  every  fall,  even  before  the  grass  had  dried  up. 
Another  class  of  land  was  what  might  be  called  the 
swamp  or  wet  lands.  There  was  a  large  body  of  these  lands 
at  the  head  of  Quiver  Valley.  They  extended  from  Slicky 
Bill  Green's  on  the  west,  to  Delavan  and  Aliens  Grove  on 
the  east  and  were  fifty  thousand  acres  in  extent.  They 
could  be  farmed  in  a  dry  season,  but  in  a  moderately  wet 
season  the  farmer  could  only  work  between  showers,  and 
a  July  freshet  would  drown  out  the  farmer's  labor  for 
the  season  and  he  was  often  compelled  to  buy  corn  from 
his  neighbors,  who  lived  on  higher  ground,  to  tide  over 
another  summer,  perhaps  of  the  same  kind,  so  that  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  the  farmer  would  have  to  move, 
worse  off  than  when  he  commenced.  The  second  division 
of  swamp  land  might  be  called  the  Crane  Creek  division, 
commencing  west  of  Red  Oak  Grove  and  running  west  to 
Crane  Creek  timber,  thence  south  to  Crane  Creek.  These 
lands  were  of  the  same  quality,  except  they  had  not  the 
fall  of  the  Quiver  Valley  land,  which  was  four  feet  to  the 
mile.  The  third  division  was  the  Bull's  Eye  prairie  land 
of  the  same  quality  and  kind  as  the  other  divisions.  Their 
water  also  went  to  Crane  Creek.  The  next  great  body  of 
swamp  land  lay  southeast  of  Havana,  commencing  south 
of  Black  Jack  Grove  and  running  to  the  Sangamon  and 
Illinois  rivers. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  255 

The  first  merchant  was  Ross.  There  was  a  wing  built 
on  the  north  side  of  his  hotel,  probably  one  hundred  feet 
long,  but  about  fourteen  feet  wide.  There  were  shelves 
on  the  south  side.  Walker  and  Hancock  occupied  this 
building  with  a  stock  of  goods  and  did  a  large  business 
for  years,  until  they  built  a  more  commodious  house  on 
Market  street,  on  the  north  side  and  nearer  the  river. 
Steiners  also  occupied  this  building  as  also  did  Hurt  and 
McKendree,  who  were  in  the  building  when  it  burned  in 
1849.  Brown  was  keeping  the  hotel  when  it  burned  one 
Sunday  night.  The  Havana  Hotel  has  been  described  in 
another  part  of  the  book.  It  was  the  largest  hotel  in 
Central  Illinois  when  built.  Across,  on  the  north  side  of 
Market  Street,  on  the  corner,  was  where  George  Robin- 
son kept  store.  It  was  a  one  story  building.  He  kept 
store  in  the  front  of  the  building  and  lived  in  the  back 
part.  Robinson  kept  a  stock  of  goods  that  suited  the 
people  who  lived  across  the  river.  They  went  by  the  name 
of  Bottomites.  Whisky  was  an  article  they  all  had  to  have 
and  Robinson  always  kept  it.  Robinson  was  a  very  large, 
fleshy  man,  but  not  quite  so  fat  as  his  son  George.  A 
little  farther  west  was  Thornberg's  saloon.  It  stood  on  the 
spot  where  the  Block  House  was  built  in  an  early  day. 
Eli  Thornberg  had  a  large  family.  Fred  was  the  oldest. 
He  did  not  live  out  his  day,  as  he  was  addicted  to  drink 
and  was  very  abusive.  One  day  John  Henry  Norris,  who 
lived  on  Crane  Creek,  came  to  town  and  Fred  attacked 
him  till  Norris  sent  his  knife  in  his  abdomen  and  killed 
him.  Thornberg  had  a  very  bright  daughter,  named  Mary 
Jane,  and  a  boy  John.  After  keeping  saloon  for  a  few 
years,  he  moved  to  Arkansas.  The  next  store  on  the  west 
was  Walker  &  Hancock's.  This  was  one  of  the  most 
complete  stores  ever  kept  in  Havana.  They  carried  every- 
thing to  eat  and  everything  to  wear.  They  had  a  large 
territory  to  draw  from,  from  Lewistown  and  Bernadotte 


256  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

on  the  west  their  trade  extended  to  Salt  Creek,  Crane 
Creek,  Allen's  Grove  and  south  to  Kilbourne,  and  to  Coon 
Grove  on  the  north.  It  was  no  unusual  thing  to  see  a 
dozen  wagons  camp  over  night,  after  hauling  in  their 
produce.  We  recollect  seeing  a  shipment  of  forty  hogs- 
head of  sugar  unloaded  at  one  time  and  some  of  it  lay  on 
the  levee  part  of  the  summer.  Hancock  lived  at  St.  Louis 
and  picked  up  all  the  bargains  that  were  in  sight  and  re- 
ceived the  grain  that  Walker  shipped  and  sold  it.  This 
store,  though  large  and  commodious,  soon  got  to  be  too 
small  and  they  built  another,  larger,  just  north  of  the 
bridge.  This  building  was  fifty  by  one  hundred  and  fifty, 
and  three  stories  high.  The  upper  story  was  used  as  a  store 
room.  This  building  soon  was  too  small  and  they  built 
a  very  large  brick  one  on  Railroad  Street,  just  south  of 
Tettee's  mill.  This  building  was  devoted  to  merchandise. 
Walker  &  Hancock  did  business  throughout  the  war  but, 
as  they  had  money  invested  in  steamboats,  the  close  of 
the  war  so  depreciated  their  property  that  they  had  to  quit 
business.  Walker  went  to  Peoria  and  did  business  till  his 
death.  The  poor  man  never  had  a  better  friend  than 
George  N.  Walker.  Just  west  of  Walker's,  and  next  to  the 
river,  was  Alex  Stewart's.  He  was  an  Irishman  and  came 
to  Havana  as  mate  on  the  Navigator,  a  steamboat  that  Asa 
Langford  traded  town  lots  in  Waterford  for.  Alex 
Stewart  lived  in  Havana  for  over  fifty  years  and  accumu- 
lated considerable  property.  He,  like  Robinson,  kept  a 
stock  of  goods  suited  to  the  trade  across  the  river,  the 
chief  article  of  which  was  whisky,  and  they,  in  turn, 
brought  the  produce  raised  on  the  river  bottom,  such  as 
cord  wood,  fence  rails,  clap  boards,  hickory  nuts,  black- 
berries and  lumber  from  the  saw  mill  at  Waterford. 

Farther  south,  on  the  high  bluff,  on  the  west  side  of 
the  river  was  where  Cyvenus  Andrews  kept  store.  He 
was  a  brother-in-law  to  N.  J.  Rockwell.  Andrews  also  had 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  257 

a  fine  trade  with  the  people  across  the  river.  He  kept  a 
variety  store.  His  stock  would  not  now  be  considered 
complete.  He  also  kept  whisky,  as  did  every  other  mer- 
chant in  the  town,  except  Walker  &  Hancock,  and  to  their 
credit  it  may  be  said  that  they  never  dealt  in  distilled 
damnation.  Andrews  also  bought  corn.  He  had  a  little 
crib  that  held  three  hundred  bushels  of  ear  corn,  and 
when  he  got  it  full  he  would  have  it  beat  out.  He  had  a 
frame  six  feet  long  and  three  feet  wide,  with  side  boards 
and  slats  across  the  bottom.  It  would  be  filled  with  corn 
and  then  with  clubs  or  an  old  axe,  the  corn  would  be 
pounded,  the  shelled  corn  going  through  the  slats,  while 
the  cobs  could  not  get  through.  A  good  able  bodied  man 
could  shell  fifty  bushels  a  day  if  he  kept  busy.  I  used 
to  take  the  contract  for  shelling  Andrew's  corn.  N.  J. 
Rockwell  kept  store  on  the  lot  where  George  Myer's  house 
now  stands.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  merchants  of 
Havana.  His  store  was  fourteen  by  thirty,  with  shelve-: 
on  one  side.  Rockwell  was  a  perfect  gentleman  and, 
though  not  an  office  seeker,  held  several  offices  from  the 
people.  He  had  a  fair  trade.  He  also  sold  whisky  with 
Peruvian  bark,  just  to  cure  the  chills.  He  finally  moved 
back  to  New  York,  where  he  came  from,  and  died  there. 
He  made  a  gift  to  Havana  to  perpetuate  his  name,  and 
Rockwell  Park,  in  the  north  part  of  Havana,  will  long  be 
known  as  a  gift  from  N.  J.  Rockwell.  The  Hurd 
Brothers  kept  store  just  north  of  the  city  hall.  There  were 
three  brothers,  Alvador,  William  and  Samuel.  They  are 
all  dead,  except  Samuel,  who,  at  last  accounts,  was  living  in 
Fulton  county.  One  of  the  first  blacksmith  shops  was  owned 
by  Amos  Ganson.  He  was  a  tall,  fine  looking  man  and  was  a 
good  smith.  His  shop  was  on  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
public  square,  where  the  laundry  stands.  Ganson  had  two 
boys,  William  and  San  ford,  and  a  girl  named  Harriett  Ann. 
Ganson  was  very  choice  in  the  beaux  that  came  to  see  his 

17 


258  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

daughter,  and  a  young  man  had  to  get  on  the  right  side 
of  the  old  man  before  he  could  pay  his  respects  to  the 
daughter.  Ganson  had  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  of 
as  fine  land  as  there  is  in  Mason  county.  Egypt  is  now  known 
as  Spait's  farm.  He  afterward  moved  to  Egypt  and  finally 
near  Decatur  and  left  his  wife.  Ganson  was  of  a  roving 
disposition  and  never  stayed  long  enough  at  one  place  to 
get  acquainted  with  the  people.  John  Harpham  kept  a 
grocery  store  on  Market  Street,  near  where  Myer's  store 
is.  Dr.-  Loveland  built  on  the  corner  west  of  the  bank. 
It  was,  when  built,  the  best  house  in  the  town.  Loveland 
was  a  small  man  and  very  precise.  He  had  a  lot  of  land 
south  of  Bishop  Station  that  was  very  good  land.  The 
doctor's  store  was  a  two-story  building  and  he  rented 
the  store  room  to  Hiram  Cleaver.  The  upper  story  was 
rented  to  the  county  for  a  court  room,  till  the  new  court 
house  was  finished.  The  court  was  held  under  Judge 
Treat  and  the  lawyers  held  high  carnival  in  Loveland' s 
building.  The  court  house  was  two  years  in  building,  and, 
when  built,  was  considered  a  creditable  house.  It  finall> 
burnt  down  and  another  one  was  built  that  resembled  the 
old  one,  but  now  compared  with  the  modern  court  house 
is  an  eye  sore  to  the  community.  Across,  on  the  opposite 
corner,  where  Allen's  drug  store  stands,  was  a  two-story 
frame  building,  in  which  Robert  Walker  and  George"  Lang- 
ford  opened  up  a  general  merchandise  business.  It  was 
terminated  by  the  death  of  Robert  Walker.  He  was  a  son 
of  James  Walker  and  a  brother  of  George  Walker.  These 
merchants,  whom  we  have  mentioned,  did  not  keep  as  large 
stores  as  the  merchants  of  today,  nor  did  the  people  need 
as  much.  Their  wants  were  not  so  great  as  now.  The 
country  was  not  all  settled  up  and  farmers  were  in  debt 
for  their  land  and  improvements.  Before  the  war  we 
were  under  the  old  dispensation  of  plows  that  would  not 
scour,  of  harrows  with  wooden  teeth,  but  after  1860  we 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  259 

took  a  leap  forward  and  made  a  new  record.  We  left  the 
tallow  candle  dispensation  for  the  kerosene.  The  advance 
we  made  in  the  last  forty  years  will  see  a  much  greater 
advance  in  the  forty  years  to  come.  But  what  a  change 
has  come  over  these  lands  in  twenty  years.  By  suitable 
drainage,  they  have  been  thoroughly  drained  and  are  the 
finest  lands  in  the  county  and  have  been  made  to  blossom 
as  the  rose. 

The  third  and  last  division  is  the  table  land  of  the 
county,  which  comprises  some  of  the  best  farming  land  in 
the  county.  The  land  in  Quiver  and  Egypt  is  of  this  kind. 
The  timber  lands,  which  were  poor  and  sandy,  have  been 
improved  in  the  mode  of  farming,  so  that  they  produce 
a  third  more  now  than  they  did  thirty  years  ago.  Most 
of  the  farmers  now  list  the  land,  instead  of  plowing  it  up. 
This  is  done  by  throwing  two  furrows  together  and  then 
planting  the  corn  in  the  furrow  and  tending  it.  By  the 
time  it  is  laid,  the  roots  of  the  corn  are  deep  in  the  ground. 
Now  the  farm  lands  are  eagerly  sought  after  in  Mason 
county  and  they  sell  for  a  higher  price  than  the  lands  in 
adjoining  counties.  We  do  not  expect  to  be  very  elaborate 
in  describing  the  Mason  county  land  in  a  book,  in  which  only 
a  few  hundred  pages  can  be  devoted  to  this  part,  but  we  do 
expect  to  give  a  good  report  of  Mason  county  pioneers  at 
a  price  within  the  reach  of  all.  There  has  been  only  one 
history  of  Mason  county  written  and  that  was  twenty-five 
years  ago.  It  was  a  costly  book  ($10.00)  and  only  one 
person  in  fifty  ever  read  it.  We  now  promise  to  write  a 
book  within  the  reach  of  all  at  a  moderate  price.  We  write 
•  for  the  masses,  the  toiling  masses,  and  expect  to  give 
them  as  much  information  in  fewer  words  and  at  a  less 
price. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


HAVANA  TOWNSHIP 

HE  FIRST  white  man  to  settle  in  Havana  town- 
ship was  believed  to  be  James  Hokum.  It  was 
known  that  he  kept  the  ferry  for  Ross,  where 
the  city  of  Havana  now  stands  and  it  is  sup- 
posed to  have  been  established  on  this  side  of  the  river 
as  early  as  1824.  There  is  but  little  doubt  that  he  was 
the  first  white  man  that  squatted  on  Havana's  sandy  soil. 
He  did  not  remain  long,  however,  and  O.  M.  Ross  may  be 
set  down  as  the  first  permanent  settler.  Ross  came  from 
New  York  to  Illinois  in  1819  and  first  settled  in  Madison 
county.  In  the  spring  of  1821  he  moved  to  Lewistown 
and  wras  one  of  the  proprietors  of  that  town,  which  was 
named  for  his  son,  Lewis  Ross.  Ross  established  the  ferry 
at  Havana  in  1823  or  '24.  Prior  to  this  there  was  an  ar- 
rangement for  taking  people  across  the  river  on  Saturday 
of  each  week.  He  would  take  their  baggage  in  a  canoe, 
while  their  horses  were  made  to  swim  beside  it.  Ross  built 
the  hotel  in  1829,  which  was  the  first  hotel  in  Mason 
county.  He  had  a  brother  Jim  who  lived  there  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  but  moved  away.  The  Ross  family  consisted  of 
four  sons  and  two  daughters ;  Lewis,  Harvey,  Leonard  and 
Pike  were  the  sons.  One  of  the  daughters  married  A.  S. 
Steel  and  the  other  married  Judge  William  Kellogg.  Henry 
Myers  came  about  the  same  time  as  Ross,  but  moved  to 
Fulton  county  in  a  short  time.  John  Barnes  settled  at 
the  mounds  above  Havana  in  1829  or  '30.  He  sold  out 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  261 

and  moved  up  to  Quiver.  When  a  school  was  established, 
he  took  his  glow  and  made  a  road  for  his  children  to  go 
to  school.  His  girls  used  to  bring  cord  wood  to  Havana 
by  rafting  it  down  the  river.  He  finally  moved  to  Kansas. 

Reinforcements  arrived  in  1835;  these  were  Owen  Fos- 
ter, N.  J.  Rockwell,  Abel  Kemp,  Eli  Fisk  and  the  Wheadons. 
The  Wheadons  were  from  New  York;  they  did  not  stay 
long  in  Mason  county.  They  settled  in  Fulton  county. 
Silah  Wheadon  was  well  known  in  Mason  county  in  after 
years  as  a  newspaper  man.  Fisk  was  a  Yankee  and  set- 
tled in  1837,  where  his  son,  Cooley,  now  resides.  Foster, 
Kemp,  Adams  and  Rockwell  came  from  Canada.  While 
making  a  trip  east,  Adams  lost  his  life  during  an  alterca- 
tion on  a  steamboat.  Kemp  moved  to  Wisconsin  and 
Rockwell  back  to  New  York.  Kemp  celebrated  his  golden 
wedding  in  1874.  He  has  no  doubt  been  dead  for  many 
years.  He  first  located  in  the  Sangamon  bottom,  but  nearly 
shook  his  life  out  with  the  ague.  He  next  moved  three  miles 
south,  east  of  Havana,  and  then  to  Havana.  Owen  Fos 
ter  was  orginally  from  Vermont  and  came  west  with  the 
colony.  He  engaged  in  the  hotel  business  and  kept  the 
second  hotel  in  the  county.  He  finally  bought  a  farm  east 
of  Havana.  He  was  the  father  of  Jad  Foster,  the  grain 
merchant.  His  widow  married  Life  Low.  A  man  by  the 
name  of  Blair  was  here  for  a  short  time  but  sold  out  to 
Rockwell. 

In  1836  the  following  recruits  were  added:  The  Low 
brothers,  Pulaski  Scoville,  Pallard  Simmons,  C.  W.  An- 
drews, Ephraim  Burnell,  John  and  William  Alexander. 
The  Lows  came  from  the  old  Bay  state.  There  were  three 
brothers,  Frank,  Thomas  and  Eliphaz.  Frank  is  the  only 
one  living  at  an  advanced  age.  The  Lows,  with  Pulaski 
Scoville,  built  a  saw  mill  at  Havana  in  an  early  day  and 
sawed  timber  for  building  in  Alton  and  St.  Louis,  and  for 
building  the  first  railroad  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  Frank 


262  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Low  was  deputy  sheriff  of  Tazewell  county  and  the  first 
sheriff  of  Mason  county.  He  has  always  been  an  active, 
energetic  man  and  takes  an  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the 
county.  Thomas  Low  was  an  old  bachelor  and  died  in 
1846,  while  Eliphaz  died  in  1864.  Scoville  came  from 
Cincinnati  to  Illinois  and,  in  connection  with  the  Lows, 
built  a  steam  saw  mill  which  did  an  extensive  business 
for  many  years.  He  owned  a  large  tract  of  land.  C.  W. 
Andrews  came  from  Watertown,  New  York,  and  located 
in  Havana,  and  was  partner  with  N.  J.  Rockwell.  He  then 
moved  to  Fulton  county  and  afterward  moved  back  and 
again  became  a  merchant.  Andrews  was  a  justice  of  the 
peace  for  one  term.  Ephraim  Burnell  lived  near  the  mounds 
above  Havana  and  then  started  for  California,  but  died 
on  the  way.  Erasmus  and  Evander  were  his  nephews. 
Evander  died  and  Erasmus  was  living,  at  the  last  ac- 
count, in  Kansas. 

From  Germany,  the  fatherland,  came  the  Krebaums, 
the  Dinkers,  the  Havenhorsts,  John  H.  Schulte,  John  W. 
Netler,  Fred  Speckman,  Herman  Tegerdes  and  John  Hults- 
grave.  The  Krebaum  family  consisted  of  Bernhart  Kre- 
baum  and  five  sons,  Adolph,  William,  Edward,  Fred  and 
Charles  G.,  the  youngest,  who  was  born  in  Havana  and 
supposed  to  be  the  first  child  born  there.  The  Krebaums 
are  said  to  be  the  third  family  born  in  the  township  and 
the  fourth  in  the  county.  Fred  was  a  lawyer,  Adolph 
was  a  county  clerk,  William  was  a  carpenter,  Edward  was 
a  farmer,  and  Gus  was  a  grain  dealer.  Adolph,  though 
nearly  ninety  years  old,  knows  as  much  about  the  history 
of  Mason  county  as  any  man  living.  Daniel  Dieffenbacher 
came  from  Pennsylvania  in  1837.  He  was  noted,  during 
his  life,  as  a  zealous  Methodist,  and  always  stood  high  in 
social  and  religious  circles.  Charles  Howell  was  one  of 
the  old  timers  and  at  last  account  was  still  living,  though 
at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety.  B.  F.  Howell  and  his 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  263 

brother,  Theodore,  both  died  in  the  last  three  years. 
Charles  Howell  first  settled  in  Mason  county  near  Mc- 
Harry's  mill  and  at  one  time  was  the  owner,  with  Julius 
Jones  and  William  Pallard  as  partners.  They  built  a  saw 
mill  on  the  north  side  of  Quiver.  Charles  Howell  was  as 
great  a  traveler  as  the  Arkansas  traveler.  He  made  sev- 
eral trips  to  California.  He  certainly  saw  as  much  of  the 
country  as  any  other  man.  He  finally  settled  down  on  his 
farm  and  manufactured  furniture.  We  have  a  set  of  chairs 
that  he  made  over  fifty  years  ago. 

Robert  McReynolds  was  another  pioneer  of  Havana 
township.  He,  too,  was  a  zealous  Methodist  and  a  Jackson 
Democrat  of  the  Peter  Cartright  stripe.  His  house  was  the 
Methodist  preacher's  home.  He  finally  moved  to  Havana 
and  during  his  later  years  held  many  important  offices.  He 
left  his  impress  on  many  sons  and  daughters.  Jacob  Mow- 
der  and  John  R.  Chancy  came  from  Kentucky  in  1837. 
Asa  Langford  came  from  Tennessee  and  settled  in  Lewis- 
town  in  1824.  Afterwards  he  moved  to  Point  Isabel  and 
then  to  Havana.  Langford  was  a  noted  character  as  long 
as  he  lived.  There  is  not  an  old  resident  of  this  county 
but  what  recollects  Asa  Langford.  Luther  Dearborn  was 
as  well  known  as  any  man  that  ever  lived  in  the  county. 
He  did  not  remain  there  long,  but  moved  to  Kane  county. 
In  1850  he  was  elected  sheriff  and  had  for  deputy  the  cele- 
brated detective,  Allen  Pinkerton.  He  came  back  to  Ha- 
vana in  1858  and  opened  up  a  law  office.  Luther  lived  in 
advance  of  his  age.  We  heard  him  twenty-five  years  ago, 
at  a  grange  picnic  at  Forest  City,  make  a  prophesy  that 
before  another  twenty-five  years  had  elapsed,  that  elec- 
tricity would  be  the  motive  power  that  would  drive  the 
machinery  and  do  the  work  of  the  land.  How  true  the 
prophetic  utterance.  Jonathan  Dearborn  was  the  father  of 
Luther  and  Marcellus  Dearborn.  He  built  the  Mason 
House  that  stands  on  the  river.  He  \vas  also  the  post- 


264  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

master.  We  have  seen  him  on  a  public  day,  when  he  wanted 
to  be  out  with  the  crowd,  put  the  letters  in  the  top  of  his 
silk  hat  and  when  he  met  a  man  on  the  street  that  he 
had  a  letter  for  give  it  to  him.  Quite  a  change  in  the  post- 
office  business  now.  Dr.  E.  B.  Harpham  came  to  Havana 
in  1844  and  practiced  medicine  for  forty  years.  James, 
Silas  and  Levi  came  soon  afterward.  James  and  Silas 
are  dead.  Levi  moved  to  California  about  ten  years  ago. 
Higbee  was  from  Lexington,  Kentucky.  He  finally, 
after  several  moves,  located  in  Havana,  where  he  died. 
Alexander  Gray  came  from  Scotland.  Reuben  Henninger, 
Philip  Ott  and  Simon  Frankfield  were  from  the  state  of 
Pennsylvania.  Henninger  lived  on  his  farm  for  many  years. 
He  raised  a  large  family  of  boys  and  girls.  He  moved 
to  Havana  before  he  died.  Sam  Conwell  came  to  the 
county  and  engaged  in  farming  and  raised  Berkshire  pigs. 
He  raised  a  large  family  of  boys  and  girls.  He  moved 
retired  from  public  life  and  shut  himself  up  at  home  and 
was  seldom  seen.  The  name,  Havana,  was  given  in  honor 
of  the  capital  of  the  Isle  of  Cuba.  The  island  just  above 
Havana  was  called  Cuba.  In  early  days  it  was  covered 
with  a  growth  of  burr  oak  timber,  some  of  which  were  of 
enormous  size,  but  it  was  all  sawed  up  by  Low  &  Scoville's 
mill  and  shipped  out  of  the  country  so,  as  we  said  before, 
the  mill  was  a  curse,  instead  of  a  blessing  to  the  country. 

CITY   OF    HAVANA. 

Havana,  the  county  seat  of  Mason  county,  is  situated 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Illinois  river.  It  is  high  and  above 
the  high  water  mark.  The  soil  is  very  sandy.  Its  main 
production  in  an  early  day  was  sand  burrs  and  fleas.  The 
sand  burr  still  survives  the  wreck  of  time  and  flourishes 
like  the  bay  tree,  while  the  flea  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  It 
is  supposed  that  they  could  not  stand  an  advanced  civiliza- 
tion. Havana  is  built  on  a  high  bluff,  perhaps  one  hundred 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  265 

feet  above  the  river  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther  east  is 
a  second  bluff.  Havana  is  forty-seven  miles  north  of 
Springfield  and  two  hundred  miles  southwest  of  Chicago, 
forty  miles  south  of  Peoria  and  nearly  two  hundred  miles 
north  of  St.  Louis.  Havana  had  a  postoffice  before  Chi- 
cago did.  The  mail  was  carried  on  horseback  from  Lewis- 
town  to  Springfield.  The  first  justices  of  the  peace  were 
Eli  Fisk  and  A.  W.  Kemp.  There  was  some  work  for 
the  justices  in  those  days,  as  Fulton  county  would  some- 
times come  over  in  force  with  clubs  and  cord  wood,  and 
many  were  the  pitched  battles  fought  after  the  combatants 
had  filled  themselves  up  with  rot  gut  whisky.  These  fra- 
cases, with  the  building  up  of  Point  Isabel,  were  transferred 
across  the  river,  and  every  Saturday  afternoon  the  people  of 
Havana  would  gather  on  the  banks  of  the  river  to  witness 
the  battle.  So  common  had  this  became  that  the  name  of 
Isabel  was  changed  to  "Bloody  Point."  Then  the  Crane 
Creek  and  Sangamon  timber  boys  would  come  to  town  and 
conceive  the  idea  of  having  a  little  fun  and,  after  filling 
up  with  booze,  would  start  out  to  run  the  town.  It  was 
said  that  Uncle  Jesse  Baker  commenced  to  have  his  fun 
at  one  time  and  that  C.  W.  Andrews  was  commissioned 
to  arrest  him.  Uncle  Jesse,  being  a  law-abiding  citizen, 
made  no  resistance.  Uncle  Jesse's  by-word  was  "sartin  and 
sure."  Before  1857  there  were  no  brick  houses  in  Ha- 
vana, when  James  H.  Hole  built  a  brick  store  house  and 
William  Walker  built  a  dwelling  house. 

We  find  in  writing  up  the  townships  and  then  the  towns 
in  the  same  townships  that  some  facts  and  incidents  are 
liable  to  be  repeated,  if  so,  our  readers  will  pardon  us  for 
repetition.  Rev.  Michael  Shunk  was  perhaps  the  first 
Methodist  preacher  in  Havana.  He  always  filled  his  ap- 
pointment no  matter  what  was  the  cpndition  of  the  roads 
or  weather.  Shunk  had  charge  of  the  Methodist  Church 
in  Mason  county  as  far  back  as  1838  and  for  fifty  years 


266  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

was  a  faithful  preacher  of  the  gospel.  The  Baptist  Church 
dates  back  in  the  "forties,"  although  the  Baldwins  had 
preached  here  several  years  before.  The  German  Evan- 
gelical Lutheran  Church  was  organized  in  1850  and  has 
always  been  strong  in  numbers  and  wealth.  The  Catholic 
Church  has  been  in  good  running  order  since  the  war.  The 
Reformed  Church  was  organized  in  an  early  'day  and  has 
come  to  stay.  We  understand  they  have  a  fund  to  draw 
from  in  New  York.  The  county  seat  question  agitated  the 
public  mind  for  a  number  of  years.  In  an  election  held 
in  1843,  Bath  won  and  the  county  seat  remained  there  till 
1851,  when  another  election  was  again  ordered  and  Havana, 
by  a  decisive  vote,  regained  the  court  house.  This  probably 
settled  the  question  for  all  time,  as  the  north  end  of  the 
county  has  two-thirds  of  the  population.  There  is  one  eye 
sore.  Though  the  public  square  is  well  set  with  trees  and 
the  grounds  covered  with  a  fine  coat  of  blue  grass,  the 
court  house  is  a  dingy  old  building,  not  fit  for  a  county 
like  Mason. 

We  believe  we  have  given  as  full  a  history  of  Havana 
township  and  Havana  as  the  brief  limits  of  this  little 
volume  will  warrant  and  will  close  up  this  part  of  the  \vork. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
BATH  TOWNSHIP 

HIS  township  is  in  the  southwest  part  of  the 
county.  It  is  twelve  miles  long  by  six  miles 
wide.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Havana 
township;  on  the  west  by  Lynchburg;  on  the 
south  by  Sangamon  river;  on  the  east  by  Kilbourne  town- 
ship. The  soil  is  like  most  of  Mason  county;  of  a  sandy 
nature,  but  is  exceedingly  fertile,  producing  corn,  wheat 
and  oats  in  great  abundance.  It  is  also  well  fitted  to  raise 
sweet  potatoes  and  water  melons  in  great  quantities.  About 
the  time  of  settlement  about  one-third  of  the  township  was 
timber  land;  the  rest  was  rolling, prairie,  well  watered  by  a 
string  of  lakes.  The  main  branch  of  the  Illinois  river,  but 
where  it  is  narrower,  diverges  from  the  broader  two  miles 
north  of  the  village  of  Bath,  forming  an  island  west  of  the 
village,  some  six  sections  in  extent,  called  Grand  Island, 
containing  several  farms  and  residences. 

The  first  dwelling  reared  by  white  men  in  the  present 
town  of  Bath  was  built  by  John  Stewart  and  John  Gilespie 
in  1828. 

Gilespie  built  on  the  old  site  of  Moscow  and  Stewart 
on  Snicarte  Island.  They  were  from  Tennessee,  and, 
though  they  were  first  settlers,  did  not  remain  long,  but 
removed  to  Schuyler  county.  Gilespie  left  his  claim  and 
Stewart  sold  out  to  Amos  Rohandson,  and  he  sold  to  John 
Knight,  who  entered  the  land.  This  was  the  first  land 


268  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

entered  in  Bath  township.  Knight  was  from  the  east  and 
settled  here  in  1829  and  1830.  In  a  few  years  he  moved 
to  Fulton  county.  Henry  Sheppard  was  the  first  settler 
in  the  north  part  of  the  township,  locating  where  the 
village  of  Matanzas  afterward  stqpd.  He  was  from  Penn- 
sylvania and  is  acknowledged  to  have  been  the  first  settler 
in  that  neighborhood.  He  entered  his  land  in  1832.  It  is 
related  of  him  that  he  never  would  allow  a  plow  in  his 
corn,  but  cultivated  it  with  his  hoe,  a  mode  of  farming  that 
would  now  be  considered  peculiar. 

The  following  additions  came  from  Kentucky:  Joseph 
A.  Phelps,  T.  S.  D.  Marshall,  Col.  A.  West,  Dr.  O'Neal, 
Major  Gatton,  Richard  Gatton,  John  S.  Wilborn,  C.  P. 
Richardson,  Rev.  John  A.  Daniels,  James  Holland,  T.  F. 
Samuel,  Laban  and  Richard  Blunt,  William  H.  Nelms, 
John  G.  and  C.  Conover,  Samuel  Pettit  and  others. 

Joseph  A.  Phelps  settled  in  the  township  in  1840,  but 
shortly  moved  into  the  village  of  Bath.  He  was  the  first 
circuit  clerk  of  Mason  county,  and  was  probate  judge. 

Col.  West  came  to  the  state  in  1828,  and  settled  near 
Virginia,  and  in  1844  came  to  Bath  township  and  finally 
moved  to  Kansas.  After  the  county  seat  was  moved  to 
Bath,  and  before  a  court  house  was  built,  the  circuit  court 
was  held  at  his  residence.  He  was  one  of  the  early  settlers 
of  Bath.  He  acquired  the  title  of  colonel  by  serving  in 
the  Winnebago  war. 

Dr.  O'Neal  was  a  son-in-law  of  Col.  West.  He  came 
from  Virginia  and  settled  here  in  1843,  and  finally  moved 
to  Kilbourne  township. 

Major  Gatton  came  to  the  state  with  his  father  in  1824 
and  settled  in  Cass  county  when  he  was  sixteen  years  old. 
In  1831  he  located  in  Beardstown,  and  moved  to  Bath  in 
1841,  soon  after  the  formation  of  the  county.  When  Major 
Gatton  settled  in  Bath,  there  was  but  one  little  pole  cabin, 
besides  his  own  residence.  His  brother,  R.  P.  Gatton,  had 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  269 

come  before  him  to  superintend  the  building,  that  it  might 
be  ready  for  his  brother's  family.  It  was  a  hewn  log  house 
and  was  the  second  building  in  Bath.  R.  P.  Gatton  lived  in 
Bath  until  his  death  in  1873.  Major  Gatton  engaged  in 
the  grain  business  and  was  one  of  the  solid  men  of  Bath. 

John  F.  Wilborn  first  settled  in  Beardstown,  but  moved 
to  Bath  in  1843.  He  was  circuit  clerk  and  postmaster  in 
Bath.  He  then  moved  to  Havana,  afterwards  to  his  farm 
three  miles  east  of  Mason  City. 

Charles  P.  Richardson  is  one  of  the  oldest  inhabitants 
of  Bath  township,  having  settled  there  in  1836.  He  first 
settled  on  Grand  Island  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  then  moved 
into  the  village.  He  came  to  the  state  in  1819,  the  next 
year  after  it  was  admitted  into  the  union,  but  did  not  settle 
in  this  part  of  the  state  till  1836.  He  was  one  of  the  chain 
carriers  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  when  he  surveyed  the  village 
of  Bath.  While  engaged  in  the  work,  the  surveyors  made 
their  home  with  Mr.  Richardson,  who  with  Kentucky  hos- 
pitality, refused  all  offers  of  remuneration,  but  Honest  Old 
Abe  determined  to  compensate  him  for  the  trouble  the 
surveyors  had  caused  him,  and  surveyed  his  land  free  of 
charge. 

Rev.  John  A.  Daniels  was  born  in  Virginia.  He  came  to 
Illinois  in  1835  and  settled  in  Cass  county,  and  in  1845 
moved  in  the  township.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneer 
preachers  of  the  Baptist  denomination,  and  could  quote 
more  scripture  in  one  of  his  sermons  than  half  a  dozen 
young  preachers  of  the  present  day.  James  Holland,  hii 
father-in-law,  came  to  the  county  with  him. 

The  Blunts  came  next  in  the  "thirties."  Thomas  F. 
and  Laban  came  first.  Thomas  was  a  zealous  member  of 
the  Baptist  Church,  and  by  his  own  aid  built  a  school 
house,  to  be  used  also  for  church  purposes,  and  provided 
a  teacher  for  the  next  winter.  He  also  owned  the  first 
threshing  machine  and  reaper  in  the  county.  A  few  year? 


270  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

later  Richard  Blunt,  or  as  he  was  more  familiarly  known 
as  Dick  Blunt,  came  to  the  country.  He  was  an  original 
man  and  could  always  get  ahead  of  any  man  he  talked  with. 
His  description  of  the  great  hail  storm  in  1848,  when  he 
described  the  hail  as  big  as  saucers  and  four  inches  through, 
has  never  been  equalled. 

William  Nelms  came  to  Bath  in  1842.  He  and  Major 
Gatton  had  the  first  store.  Mr.  Nelms  was  one  of  the 
proprietors  of  Bath. 

The  Conovers  came  to  the  township  in  1841  and  settled 
within  a  mile  of  Bath.  There  were  three  brothers,  Combs, 
William  and  John  G. 

From  Tennessee  came  Joseph  Adkins,  Joseph  Wallace, 
Thomas  Bruce,  Nelson  Ashurst,  John  Johnson,  Matthew 
Wiley,  Patrick  Campbell  and  his  son,  George  W.  Camp- 
bell. The  Campbells  were  also  among  the  early  settlers. 
George  Campbell  came  to  Bath  as  early  as  1838,  when  but 
seventeen  years  old.  His  father  came  as  early  as  1840. 
He  was  a  lawyer  of  some  ability  and  an  orator  of  the 
spread  eagle  style.  We  heard  him  introduce  Stephen  A. 
Douglas  in  Havana  in  1858,  when  he  made  the  old  eagle 
ashamed  of  itself.  He  served  the  country  at  the  bar  in  the 
legislative  hall  and  on  the  tented  field. 

The  Dews  settled  in  1842.  There  were  four  brothers: 
Joseph,  Wallace,  William  and  James.  The  Bruces  came  in 
1846.  Joseph  came  in  1840  and  lived  there  until  his  death 
in  1878. 

Nelson  R.  Ashurst  located  in  1839.  He  died  of  cholera. 
Two  sons  survived  him,  one  of  whom  is  the  originator  of 
the  Ashurst  Press  Drill,  which  is  manufactured  in  Havana 
today,  and  which  has  had  a  great  sale  throughout  the  west. 

John  Johnson  settled  just  east  of  the  town  of  Bath  in 
1837,  and  then  moved  to  Lynchburg. 

Matthew  Wiley  was  among  the  early  settlers.  The  old 
man  settled  in  the  Stewart  house,  which  is  mentioned  as 
being  one  of  the  first  houses  built  in  the  township. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  271 

William  Banter,  a  North  Carolinian,  came  to  Illinois, 
in  1840,  and  to  Bath  in  the  same  year.  When  the  county 
seat  was  located  at  Bath,  Mr.  Banter  put  the  roof  on  it. 
The  three  Morrow  brothers  settled  in  Bath  in  1838.  They 
were  from  North  Carolina  and  were  much  respected. 
Thomas  Hubbard,  a  son-in-law  of  Morrow's,  settled  in  the 
south  part  of  the  township.  He  was  from  Green  county. 
George  A.  Barney  came  from  New  York  in  1833  and  set- 
tled in  Cass  county.  His  grandfather  commanded  a  com- 
pany at  Springfield,  Mass.,  in  an  engagement  during  the 
Whisky  Insurrection.  After  coming  to  Illinois,  he  was 
licensed  to  preach,  and  joined  the  conference.  He  after- 
wards moved  to  Missouri,  but  did  not  remain  long  on  ac- 
count of  poor  health.  He  then  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits.  He  built  a  large  warehouse  on  Snicarte  Slough, 
which  ran  through  his  farm,  but  this  was  burned  down  by 
incendiaries. 

Isaac  Vail  was  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  sprung  from  a 
solid  old  Buckeye  family.  He  came  .to  Illinois  in  1843, 
locating  in  Vermont,  Fulton  county,  and  in  1845  came  to 
Bath  township.  He  was  one  of  Bath's  most  energetic 
merchants,  and  to  him  Bath  owes  much  of  its  prosperity. 
He  retired  at  the  age  of  four  score  years.  Warren  Heberling 
married  one  of  Vail's  daughters. 

Smith  Turner  came  in  1838  and  settled  in  the  south  part 
of  the  township.  He  was  a  lawyer  of  ability.  His  wife 
was  a  daughter  of  Drury  S.  Field.  Smith  Turner  wTas 
at  one  time  probate  judge.  He  moved  to  Missouri  during 
the  Civil  War. 

V.  B.  Holmes  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Matanzas.  He 
was  from  Old  Virginia.  He  entered  twelve  thousand  acres 
of  land  for  Field.  He  is  remembered  as  a  man  of  many 
peculiarities.  He  moved  to  Tazewell  and  died  there.  He 
bought  land  near  Matanzas  from  John  H.  Shulte. 

Joseph    F.    Benner   was    from    Ohio.      He   assisted   in 


272  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

building  the  court  house  at  Bath.  Samuel  Craggs  came 
^from  England  His  wife  was  a  sister  of  Smith  Turner. 
The  Bells,  four  brothers,  were  among  the  early  settlers. 
All  four  brothers  married  sisters  in  the  Morrow  family. 
William  and  Daniel  were  preachers  in  the  Cumberland 
Church. 

John  P.  Hudson  was  a  live  Yankee.  He  settled  in 
Matanzas  and  run  a  small  mill,  whose  motive  power  was  an 
incline  wheel  forty  feet  in  diameter.  A  couple  of  oxen 
would  climb  the  wheel,  but  never  could  get  to  the  top. 
We  used  to  ride  astride  a  sack  of  corn  to  this  mill.  T.  P. 
Hudson  claims  to  have  introduced  the  McCormick  reaper, 
and  sold  one  to  William  Arnsworth  in  Lynchburg  town- 
ship. 

The  Clodfelters  settled  in  Bath  township  in  1840.  They 
came  from  Morgan  county  and  the  family  consisted  of 
Jacob  Clodfelter,  Sr.,  and  two  sons,  Jacob  and  Michael. 
Old  man  Clodfelter  moved  to  Kansas,  where  he  died. 

Kean  Mahony  was  an  Irishman  from  the  Old  Sod.  He 
laid  out  an  addition  to  Bath,  known  as  Mahony's  addition. 
He  went  to  California  in  1853  and  never  returned. 

The  Beasley  family  came  from  New  Jersey.  They 
located  in  Bath  in  1845  and  were  in  the  merchandise  busi- 
ness for  several  years. 

Drury  S.  Field  came  some  time  in  the  "thirties,"  and 
settled  on  what  is  known  as  Field's  Prairie.  He  was  a  man 
of  wealth  and  entered  a  fine  lot  of  land.  A.  E.  Field, 
his  son,  was  a  doctor,  also  a  man  of  intellect.  Mr.  Field 
raised  a  large  family,  most  of  whom  are  dead.  They  settled 
in  that  part  of  Bath  township  that  was  taken  off  to  form 
Kilbourne  township.  Edward  Field,  father  of  Drury  S. 
Field,  was  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Stokes 
Edwards  was  among  the  pioneers  and  settled  on  the  line  of 
Kilbourne  township. 

John  A.  Martin  came  from  the  sands  of  New  Jersey 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  273 

in  1846.  He  first  settled  in  Mason  county,  but  came  to 
Bath,  where  he  resided  until  his  death. 

Thomas  Howard  was  a  brother-in-law  of  T.  S.  D.  Mar- 
shall. Thomas  Hardesty  came  from  Peoria,  but  was 
originally  from  Kentucky,  and  used  to  tell  many  stories 
about  things  that  happened  in  his  native  state.  John  B. 
Renshaw  came  in  1845,  an^  was  one  °f  tne  ^rst  black- 
smiths in  the  township. 

S.  S.  Rochester  came  from  Green  county  somewhere 
in  the  "forties."  Gen.  J.  M.  Ruggles  came  to  the  state 
in  1833.  He  first  came  to  the  county  in  1844,  but  did  not 
locate  until  1846.  He  settled  in  Bath  and  commenced  a 
mercantile  business  with  Major  Gatton.  He  was  elected 
to  the  state  senate  in  the  district  composed  of  Sangamon, 
Menard  and  Mason  counties.  Abraham  Lincoln  was  a 
member  of  the  lower  house.  In  1854  he  was  appointed 
on  a  committee  with  Lincoln  and  Ebenezer  Peck  to  draft 
a  platform  and  resolutions  for  the  new  party  then  form- 
ing. The  other  members  of  the  committee  being  busy, 
the  duty  of  drawing  up  the  platform  devolved  upon  Rug- 
gles, who  drew  up  the  first  platform  of  the  Republican 
party.  In  1861  Governor  Yates  appointed  him  quarter- 
master of  the  First  Illinois  Cavalry.  He  was  soon  pro- 
moted major.  He  remained  in  the  regiment  until  mus- 
tered out  in  1864.  In  all  positions  held  by  -  Gen.  Rug- 
gles, whether  civil  or  military,  his  duty  was  discharged  with 
faithful  fidelity.  Gen.  Ruggles  died  in  March,  1901,  at 
Havana,  where  he  had  lived  many  years.  He  owned  a  large 
lot  of  land  near  Kilbourne.  Franklin  Ruggles,  a  brother  of 
Gen.  Ruggles,  came  to  Bath  in  1851,  and  took  an  interest 
in  a  flour  mill,  then  being  built  by  Gatton  and  Rug- 
gles. A  saw  mill  was  also  built,  \vhich  was  operated  by 
the  same  power  and  did  a  large  business  under  the  super- 
intendence of  Franklin  Ruggles.  He  died  in  1855,  leaving 
two  sons,  John  and  James.  John  was  killed  in  the  battle 
of  Shilo. 

18 


274  *  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

I.  N.  Mitchel  was  a  native  born  Sucker.  His  parents 
were  among  the  pioneers  of  Morgan  county.  When  he 
was  seventeen  years  old,  the  family  moved  to  Field's  Prairie, 
where  he  worked  on  a  farm  until  he  was  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  He  then  located  in  Bath.  In  1867  he  was  elected 
county  treasurer;  in  1869  he  was  chosen  county  clerk.  He 
held  various  other  offices,  in  all  of  which  he  gave  satisfac- 
tion. After  living  in  Havana  for  several  decades,  he  died 
two  years  ago. 

Daniel  R.  Davis  and  Benjamin  Sisson  were  from  New 
England.  Davis  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  prairie 
east  of  Bath.  He  was  an  old  sailor  and  had  been  all  over 
the  world.  In  a  fight  at  Bath,  he  was  struck  with  a  weight 
and  died  from  the  effects. 

Leslie  and  George  Lacy  came  in  1842.  Hugh  McCleary 
was  a  jolly  Irishman,  and  many  of  the  early  jokes  recorded 
in  early  times  are  traced  to  him.  One  beautiful  Sunday 
morning  he  slipped  out  with  his  gun,  when  someone  asked 
him  where  he  was  going.  He  replied  that  he  had  an  ap- 
pointment to  meet  Mr.  Holland  and  Mr.  Lefever,  two  very 
strict  church  members,  down  by  the  river  to  go  hunting 
with  them  and  he  was  afraid  he  would  be  late. 

Dr.  Caloway  was  an  early  settler  of  Bath,  and  had  a 
successful  practice  for  several  years.  John  R.  Teney  was 
an  old  resident  of  Bath.  James  M.  Robinson  came  in  1852, 
and  was  the  first  police  magistrate. 

The  following  citizens,  mostly  of  German  descent,  set- 
tled in  the  township :  G.  H.  Kramer,  J.  H.  and  Detrich 
Strube,  Peter  Luly,  Adolph  Krebaum  and  John  Having- 
horst. 

Adolph  Krebaum  was  elected  circuit  clerk  in  1845,  and 
moved  to  Bath  in  the  same  year.  He  remained  there  until 
1851,  when  the  county  seat  was  moved  back  to  Havana. 

Peter  Luly  was  a  business  man  in  Bath  for  a  number  of 
years,  but  moved  to  Peoria.  John  H.  Horseman  came  in 
1836.  He  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  275 

Havinghorst  was  among  the  early  settlers  of  Bath,  but 
afterwards  kept  store  in  Matanzas.  When  the  first  pioneers 
settled  in  Bath  township,  it  was  not  the  highly  cultivated 
farming  district  that  it  is  now.  Wild  prairie,  timber  land, 
marshes  and  sloughs  then,  are  now  fine  improved  farms. 
The  timber  has  been  cleared  off,  prairies  turned  upside  down 
and  marshes  drained,  and  much  land  supposed  to  be  worth- 
less, is  now  reckoned  the  best  in  the  township.  In  place 
of  the  elegant  country  reidences  there  was  a  cabin  of  Black 
Jack  poles.  Wolves  were  plentiful  then,  with  an  occasional 
panther.  The  present  generation  know  but  little  of  what 
their  fathers  had  to  undergo.  In  early  days  people  had 
to  go  to  mill  at  Duncan's  on  Spoon  river,  in  Fulton  county, 
or  Simmon's  mill  on  Quiver,  which  was  .the  more  con- 
venient, as  it  saved  ferriage.  A  few  years  after  McHarry 
built  his  mill,  which  supplied  the  county  till  the  Bath  mill 
was  built.  The  first  school  was  taught  by  Miss  Berry,  who 
became  the  wife  of  T.  S.  D.  Marshall.  The  first  death 
was  that  of  Louis  Van  Court,  an  old  hunter.  He  was  a 
bachelor  and  lived  around.  He  owned  a  gun,  an  axe  and 
a  fiddle.  Hiram  Blunt  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first 
born,  contesting  that  honor  with  Gus  Krebaum. 

Rev.  Shunk  was  the  first  minister.  He  preached  in 
Gatton's  house  before  there  was  any  other  place.  Another 
of  the  early  preachers  was  the  Rev.  John  M.  Daniels,  who 
used  more  quotations  from  the  bible  than  a  half  dozen 
preachers  of  the  present  day.  Rev.  George  A.  Barney  was 
another  of  the  early  Methodist  preachers.  Bath  township 
has  always  been  Democratic,  and  in  the  time  of  the  late  war 
furnished  her  full  quota  without  any  draft. 

THE  COUNTY  SEAT  QUESTION. 

Much  ill-feeling  was  engendered  by  the  location  of  the 
county  seat.  The  settlement  of  the  county  was  always 
north  of  Bath.  The  county  south  'of  Bath,  where  the  county 


276  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

\ 

ran  down  to  a  wedge,  was  the  best  land  for  settlement  and 
lay  east  and  north  of  Havana.  Bath,  by  strategy,  man- 
aged to  hold  the  capitol  for  several  years.  The  agitation 
was  kept  up  for  several  years.  Finally,  an  act  was  passed 
authorizing  an  election  to  be  held  in  February,  1843,  and 
as  Bath  received  a  majority  of  the  votes,  the  county  seat 
was  moved  to  that  place  until  February,  1851,  when  an- 
other election  was  held,  and  Havana  got  the  plum  by  a  de- 
cided majority  and  the  question  was  settled  for  all  time. 
The  people  of  Havana  did  not  wait  until  a  court  house 
was  built,  but  rented  the  upstairs  of  Dr.  Loveland's  new 
building,  also  some  other  rooms  for  offices,  and  taking  a 
couple  of  wagons,  went  to  Bath  and  moved  the  archives 
up  to  Havana.  The  court  house  in  Bath  was  sold  for  a 
schoolhouse. 

There  is  a  beautiful  cemetery  in  Bath  that  was  surveyed 
by  General  Ruggles. 

Bath  has  been  crippled  in  its  business  since  the  C.  P. 
&  St.  L.  Railroad  was  built,  as  a  great  part  of  the  trade, 
that  it  used  to  get  from  Whitehall  and  Field's  Prairie  now 
goes  to  Kilbourne.  The  water  navigation  is  too  slow  and 
uncertain,  while  the  railroads  are  swift  and  sure  to  receive 
and  deliver  freight. 

Matanzas  and  Moscow  were  two  important  towns, 
Matanzas  being  laid  out  in  1839,  but  they  have  been  wiped 
off  the  map  of  Mason  county  as  shipping  points  along  the 
river.  Matanzas  Lake  used  to  be  a  great  fishing  point.  We 
saw  a  man  by  the  name  of  Menturn  make  a  haul  once  with 
a  seine,  in  which  the  catch  was  estimated  at  thirty  thousand 
pounds.  They  were  mostly  Buffalo  fish,  some  weighing- 
fifty  pounds.  It  was  before  the  German  carp  had  been 
introduced  into  the  Illinois  river.  The  introduction  of  the 
English  sparrow  and  the  German  carp  into  this  county 
might  have  been  all  right  in  theory,  but  its  results  have 
not  been  good,  as  the  sparrow  has  whipped  out  most  of 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


277 


our  feathered  songsters  and  the  carp  has  destroyed  most 
of  our  game  fish  by  rooting  up  the  bottom  of  our  rivers  and 
eating  all  the  fish  eggs  they  could  find. 

Sidora,  in  the  south  part  of  the  township,  has  hardly  at- 
tained the  dignity  of  a  village.  It  is  a  grain  station,  and  is 
situated  on  land  owned  by  Joseph  Adkins.  Considering 
the  close  proximity  to  Bath  and  Chandlerville,  the  shipments 
of  grain  are  large. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

LYNCHBURG  TOWNSHIP 

HE  FIRST  settler  in  Lynchburg  township  was 
Nelson  Abbey  in  1854.  He  came  from  Ver- 
mont and  built  the  first  cabin  in  Section  4. 
He  sold  out  and  moved  to  Missouri. 
The  early  settlers  were  mostly  from  Kentucky.  There 
came  also  from  the  same  state  the  Rodgers,  the  Phelps, 
Isaac  Bright,  Jimmie  Northen,  William  P.  Finch,  Amos 
West,  William  Davis  and  many  others.  Davis  came  as 
early  as  1838  and  made  small  improvement.  He  settled 
south  of  Moscow  and  finally  went  to  California,  when  the 
gold  fever  broke  out.  Amos  S.  West  came  to  Illinois, 
settled  first  in  Morgan  county  and  then  came  to  Mason 
county  in  1844.  He  located  in  Mason  county,  but  fina'ly 
moved  to  Kansas.  The  Phelps  came  to  the  neighborhood 
in  1838.  George  W.  first  located  in  Cass  county  and 
afterward  moved  to  Bath  township,  whence  he  moved  to 
the  place  mentioned  above.  He  sold  out  and  went  back 
to  Kentucky.  R.  J.  Phelps  was  a  son-in-law  of  John  Camp 
and  settled  east  of  Snicarte.  His  last  wife  was  a  sister 
of  Mark  A.  Smith,  an  old  settler  and  prominent  citizen  of 
the  township.  After  the  death  of  his  second  wife,  he  mar- 
ried again  and  then  moved  west.  Bright  moved  into  the 
township  in  1841  and  died  in  1844.  He  was  justice  of  the 
peace.  His  widow  married  one  of  the  Phelps  and  moved  to 
Texas.  Jimmie  Northen  came  in  1839  or  '40.  He  first 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  279 

settled  in  Cass  county,  where  he  remained  for  a  time  and 
then  came  to  Lynchburg.  He  had  a  large  family  and 
owned  ajarge  farm.  He  finally  sold  out  and  moved  away. 
The  Rodgers  came  in  1838.  William  settled  one  mile  west 
of  Snicarte  and  John  three  miles  southwest  of  the  same 
spot.  They  were  brothers.  William  was  a  doctor  and 
John  was  a  blacksmith.  William  was  a  brother-in-law 
of  Nelson  Abbey's.  John  Rodgers  died  in  1868.  William 
P.  Finch  came  in  1842  and  was  one  of  the  early  school- 
masters, and  also  a  justice  of  the  peace.  A  daughter  of 
his  married  one  of  the  Phelps'. 

Amos  Smith  came  from  Vermont  and  settled  in  the 
township  in  1839,  about  one  mile  from  Snicarte.  Amos 
Smith,  Jr.,  and  Benjamin  Smith,  his  sons,  came  with  teams 
to  Whitehall,  New  York,  and  by  canal  and  Lake  Erie 
from  Buffalo  to  Cleveland,  and  by  way  of  the  Ohio,  Mis- 
sissippi and  Illinois  rivers  to  Beardstown,  where  they  ar- 
rived in  1837.  Amos  Smith,  Jr.,  was  justice  of  the  peace, 
an  office  he  held  until  his  death.  Benjamin  F.  Smith  was  a 
carpenter.  Mark  A.  Smith,  son  of  Amos  Smith,  Sr.,  came 
to  the  township  in  1839.  He  arrived  in  Moscow,  October 
1 5th,  with  a  fortune  of  37  cents  ready  money.  When  they 
landed,  the  family  and  goods  were  left  on  the  bank  of  the 
river,  while  he  went  to  explore  the  town  to  get  a  team. 
He  traveled  six  miles  to  Nelson  Abbey's  and  returned  at 
3  o'clock  and  took  his  family  to  Abbey's,  where  they  all 
lived  until  a  cabin  could  be  built. 

Simon  Ward  came  from  North  Carolina  in  1838.  He 
followed  the  occupation  of  selling  wood  to  steamboats.  He 
moved  to  Texas,  but  came  back  and  died.  He  set  out  the 
first  orchard  in  1855.  George  W.  Carpenter  was  from 
Tennessee.  He  raised  a  large  family  and  at  last  moved  to 
Kansas.  James  D.  Reeves  came  in  1839.  He  settled  one- 
half  mile  south  of  Moscow.  Rev.  John  Camp  came  from 
Pennsylvania  in  1838  ,and  was  the  first  probate  judge  of 
Mason  county.  He  built  a  horse  mill  at  an  early  day,  where 


280  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

the  pioneers  used  to  get  their  hominy  ground.  Jorm  Stewart 
was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Bath  township.  He  settled 
first  at  Snicarte  Island  and  then  in  Lynchburg.  Caleb 
Brown  and  family  came  from  New  York;  first  settled  in 
Adams  county  and  then  in  Lynchburg  in  1844.  He  had 
two  sons  and  several  daughters.  Jonathan  Sackman  came 
in  1841,  but  remained  only  a  year  or  so.  He  was  a  justice 
of  the  peace,  but  soon  moved  away.  John  J.  Fletcher,  an 
Englishman,  came  at  an  early  day,  and  was  a  prominent 
citizen  for  many  years.  The  Marshalls  came  from  Ten- 
nessee about  1840.  There  were  four  brothers.  Elisha 
moved  to  Adams  county,  and  David  to  Missouri.  Thomas 
Bowls  came  in  1839,  but  was  not  very  popular,  as  he  was 
supposed  to  be  issuing  money  of  his  own.  Ashley  Hicky 
and  Aaron  Ray  became  interested  with  him.  Hicky  fur- 
nished his  means  to  purchase  material  and  tools  for  the 
enterprise,  and  Bowls  went  to  St.  Louis  to  make  an  in- 
vestment, but  spent  the  money  in  spreeing  and  told,  when 
he  came'  back,  that  he  had  bought  the  tools  and  shipped 
them,  but,  as  they  did  not  arrive,  he  was  accused  of  lying 
and  swindling  and  kicked  out  of  the  county.  James  Ingram 
came  from  Indiana  in  1840.  He  was  drowned  two  years 
later  in  Snicarte  Slough.  Zeph  Keith  came  from  Tennessee 
in  1843.  He  was  a  jolly  good  fellow,  but  moved  to  Kansas. 
The  Lanes  came  from  Pennsylvania.  Pleasant  May  and  his 
son  William  came  from  Kentucky  in  1837.  George  May, 
a  brother  of  Pleasant  May,  laid  out  the  village  of  Lynch- 
burg. William  Bailey  was  from  Kentucky.  Thomas 
Richard  and  William  Ainsworth  were  natives  of  England., 
and  came  to  America  in  1842  and  located  in  the  township. 
Thomas  had  $800.00.  the  other  two  $50.00  apiece,  and 
they  borrowed  money  from  Thomas  to  enter  some  land. 
The  Laymans  were  from  Ohio  and  moved  in  1845.  David 
Layman  was  a  Virginian  and  William  Howarth  came  with 
the  Ainsworths. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  281 

The  first  religious  society  was  organized  by  the  Metho- 
dists in  1838.  The  early  preachers  were  Rev.  Robert  Ander- 
son and  a  preacher  by  the  name  of  Williams  (called  Daddy 
Williams).  The  first  members  were  John  Camp  and  wife, 
George  Marshall  and  wife  and  James  D.  Reeves  and  wife. 
A  frame  church  was  built  in  1850  and  dedicated  by  Peter 
Cartright.  It  is  known  as  the  Fairview  M.  E.  Church. 
They  have  a  flourishing  Sunday  school.  Thomas  Ains- 
worth  was  the  first  superintendent.  William  Ainsworth 
has  served  in  that  capacity  for  more  than  a  score  of  years. 
Hopeville  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  1840,  by  the 
Revs.  John  Daniels  and  Thomas  Taylor,  with  eight  mem- 
bers. It  was  organized  at  the  residence  of  William  Davis. 
Services  were  held  at  private  houses  until  a  schoolhouse 
was  built  in  1852,  and  then  this  was  used  for  church  pur- 
poses until  1865,  when  a  church  was  built.  A  Sunday 
school  was  organized  in  1864. 

Who  taught  the  first  school  is  hard  to  find  out,  but 
William  Finch  was  an  early  teacher.  There  was  a  school 
taught  by  Mrs.  Camp,  a  sister  of  Mark  A.  Smith  before 
there  were  a  schoolhouse  in  the  township.  H.  G.  Rice  was 
the  first  teacher  after  the  schoolhouse  was  built. 

The  first  marriage  in  Lynchburg  was  that  of  William 
Cole  and  Nancy  May.  The  first  birth  was  Henry  Ward, 
son  of  Simon  Ward,  born  in  1834.  The  first  death  was 
Mary  Jane  Smith. 

At  an  early  day  the  people  got  their  mail  at  Havana, 
later  at  Bath.  Snicarte  is  the  nearest  to  a  village  in  Lynch- 
burg township,  but  has  never  been  laid  out  or  surveyed.  A 
small  grocery  store  was  opened  in  1858  by  Mark  A.  Smith 
This  was  enlarged  the  next  year  and  an  extensive  stock  of 
goods  put  in.  Smith  sold  his  stock  of  goods  to  Henry  C. 
.  Hoesman.  A  postoffice  was  established  in  1859,  with 
Horace  Rice  as  postmaster. 

There  was  a  village  laid  out  at  an  early  day  by  .George 


282 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


May,  called  Lynchburg,  but  as  a  town,  it  never  made  much 
progress.  May  had  his  town  laid  out,  then  bought  a  barrel 
of  whisky,  and  had  a  sale  of  lots,  but  it  would  not  go. 

Fairview  consists  of  a  Methodist  Church  and  a  school- 
house,  and  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that  a  fair 
view  of  .the  country  is  had  from  the  surrounding  elevated 
hill,  on  which  the  buildings  are  situated. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


QUIVER  TOWNSHIP 


SETTLEMENT  had  been  made  west  of  the 
Creek  as  early  as  1835.  No  one  had  ventured 
across  the  Creek,  into  what  is  now  Quiver  town- 
ship prior  to  1837.  John  Barnes  from  Ken- 
tucky, had  located  as  early  as  the  first  mentioned 
date.  His  wife  was  truly  a  helpmate.  Her  muscular 
strength  was  such  that  she  could  split  one  hundred 
and  fifty  rails  a  day.  At  Barnes'  home,  Joseph  Lybarger 
stopped  a  few  weeks,  before  he  crossed  the  Quiver,  and  be- 
gan his  improvements.  Lybarger  was  from  Pennsylvania 
and  was  a  blacksmith  by  trade.  The  exact  date  of  his  set- 
tlement cannot  be  fixed  to  a  certainty.  It  is  probable  it  oc- 
curred in  1837.  Soon  after  coming  he  opened  up  a  shop 
and  for  a  number  of  years  did  the  work  for  that  part  of  the 
country.  In  the  summer  of  1837,  Henry  Seymore  came 
and  settled  east  of  Lybarger's.  A  month  later  Peter  Ring- 
house,  who  had  been  stopping  at  St.  Louis,  came  and  settled 
in  the  community.  Ringhouse  was  originally  from  Ger- 
many, but  had  lived  in  Baltimore  before  coming  west.  Wil- 
liam Atwatter  came  from  Connecticut  and  located  in  the 
neighborhood.  He  served  an  apprenticeship  and  followed 
his  trade  for  a  number  of  years.  He  erected  a  frame  build- 
ing, probably  the  first  in  the  township,  and  began  to  improve 
his  farm.  For  two  years  after  coming,  he  led  the  life  of  a 
bachelor  and  fared  with  as  much  happiness  as  bachelor's 
enjoy.  The  climate  did  not  seem  to  agree  with  him,  as  he 


284  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

was  annoyed  with  chills  and  fever.  At  one  time  he  deter- 
mined to  exchange  one-half  of  his  land  for  a  horse  and 
wagon  and  the  tail  end  of  a  stock  of  goods;  this  he  intended 
to  peddle,  hoping  to  get  enough  money  to  leave  the  country, 
"but  he  was  destined  to  become  one  of  the  permanent  settlers 
of  the  country.  On  telling  his  intentions  to  a  friend,  he 
persuaded  him  to  stay  and  get  married.  Mr.  Atwatter  was 
in  favor  of  the  suggestion  and  in  a  short  time  Miss  Eliza- 
beth Ringhouse  became  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Atwatter.  He  lived 
at  the  place  he  first  settled  all  his  life.  His  widow  still  sur- 
vives him  and  is  now  Mrs.  Korell.  John  Seeley,  William 
Patterson  and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Edwards  settled  near 
the  bluff  timber,  in  1840.  Isaac  Parkhurst  moved  near 
Quiver  Creek  in  1840  and  was  a  justice  of  the  peace,  when 
this  section  was  in  Tazewell  county.  During  the  year  ot 
1842,  Benjamin  Ross,  Dan  Waldron,  William  E.  Magill  and 
George  V.  Coon  were  among  the  permanent  settlers.  Ross 
was  from  Tennessee  and  had  settled  in  Cass  county  before 
coming  to  Mason.  Waldron  was  from  New  Jersey  and  re- 
mained a  citizen  till  his  death.  W.  E.  Magill  came  from 
Menard.  George  V.  Coon  came  from  New  Jersey  and  set 
tied  in  Green  county  in  1839.  At  the  same  time,  Stephen 
Brown,  his  father-in-law,  Robert  Cross,  and  Aaron  Litell 
came  and  settled  by  him.  Loren  Ames,  a  native  of  the  old 
Bay  State,  came  west  in  1818  and  settled  in  St.  Clair  county. 
In  1842  he  became  a  citizen  of  Quiver.  He  had  served  in 
the  Black  Hawk  war,  first  as  private  and  afterward  as 
lieutenant  in  Col.  Fray's  noted  regiment.  William  Colwell, 
a  native  of  England,  first  settled  in  Cass  County.  In  1842 
he  came  to  Quiver  township.  He  died  from  a  kick  of  a 
horse.  He  was  a  local  preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church.  His  son,  John  Colwell,  belongs  to  the  Illinois 
conference  and  is  an  able  preacher.  George  Steath  sold 
out  to  Cross.  In  1843  Cross  and  Litell  settled  on  farms  ad- 
joining Coon.  Fred  High,  Henry  Rakesstraw  and  Freeman 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  283 

Marshall  made  settlement  in  1843.  Moses  Eckard  came 
from  Maryland,  located  in  Fulton  county  in  1839  and  in 
Mason  county  in  1840.  In  1844  he  married  a  daughter 
of  Pollard  Simmonds.  He  then  moved  near  where  the 
village  of  Topeka  stood.  Most  of  the  settlements,  up  tx> 
this,  had  been  made  along  the  bluff  of  the  Illinois  river.  In 
1847,  J-  M.  McReynolds  located  in  the  south  side  of  Quiver 
and  east  of  Eckard.  Robert  McReynolds,  the  father  of 
J.  M.,  came  from  Pennsylvania  in  1838  and  settled  seven 
miles  east  of  Havana.  In  1849  ne  became  a  citizen  of 
Quiver  township  and  at  an  early  day  was  connected  with  the 
interest  of  the  county.  In  1845  we  find  him  connected  with 
the  board  of  county  commissioners.  In  1849  he  was  Asso- 
ciate Judge  with  Smith  Turner  and  John  Pemberton.  In 
every  position  in  which  he  was  placed,  integrity  marked  his 
course.  He  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  Methodism.  He 
was  not  only  a  pioneer  in  the  country,  but  a  pioneer  in  Meth- 
odism. In  building  his  house,  an  extra  large  room  was 
provided  in  which  to  hold  meetings.  Quarterly  meetings 
were  held,  over  which  Peter  Cartright  presided.  On  one 
occasion  over  fifty  people  were  there  for  breakfast.  The 
first  Sunday  school  in  the  county  was  established  at  hi? 
house  in  1841,  with  twelve  teachers  and  twenty-one  scholars. 
J.  M.  is  following  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father.  John 
Appleman,  Thomas  Yates  and  George  Ross  came  from  Ohio 
and  settled  in  the  part  of  the  township  known  as  Tight  Row. 
Appleman  died  years  ago,  Yates  in  1876  and  Ross  returned 
to  Ohio  on  a  visit  and  died.  Hugh  McHarry,  a  native  of 
Ireland,  came  to  this  country  in  1822.  He  had  come  to  this 
country  to  make  a  fortune.  He  started  penniless.  His 
mind  led  him  to  milling.  He  lived  on  the  Erie  canal ;  then 
in  Louisville  and  came  to  Beardstown  in  1842.  In  1843. 
he  bought  the  Quiver  Mill  site,  which  was  only  a  saw  mill ; 
then  he  built  a  grist  mill  on  the  south  side  of  Julius  Jones, 
Charles  Howell  and  William  Pollard,  who  built  the  dam. 


286  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

The  saw  mill  was  in  Quiver  township,  while  the  grist  mill 
was  in  Havana  township.  McHarry  was  a  large  land  own- 
er, and  in  war  times  donated  many  a  sack  of  flour  to  the 
poor  war  widows.  The  first  school  in  the  township  \v.as 
near  William  Atwatter  and  was  taught  by  a  German  named 
Vollrath.  In  addition  to  the  regular  school  instruction,  he 
taught  music  and  led  the  exercises  with  a  fiddle.  This  feat- 
ure was  not  well  received  by  the  parents,  as  they  considered 
it  a  device  of  the  devil  to  capture  and  lead  their  young  chil- 
dren down  the  road  to  ruin,  so  his  services  were  not  needed 
a  second  term.  Vollrath  was  from  the  south  and  his  high 
ideas  of  southern  life  did  not  accord  with  the  western 
pioneer  life,  consequently  he  was  not  popular  with  the 
people.  Among  others  who  taught  in  early  days  were 
Charles  B.  Waldo  and  George  Carem. 

The  early  preaching  was  in  private  houses  and  barns. 
Elder  Jonah  Crawford  held  a  protracted  meeting  in  Lybar- 
ger's  barn.  The  meetings  were  held  for  a  number  of  years 
in  William  Atwatter's  residence.  Elder  Brockman  and 
Powell  fed  the  sheep  for  a  number  of  years.  The  Presby- 
terian church  in  Tight  Row  was  built  in  1853  and  had  a 
flourishing  congregation,  but  remained  idle  for  a  number  of 
years,  except  on  funeral  occasions.  Among  the  early  minis- 
ters were  Rev.  William  Perkins,  Andrews  and  Bennett.  The 
principal  cemetery  of  the  township  is  connected  with  this 
•church.  The  first  interment  was  Robert  Cross.  Since  that 
time  many  of  the  early  pioneers  have  been  laid  beside  him 
to  sleep  till  Gabriel  shall  summon  the  sleepers  to  arise.  Near 
ty  stands  the  Christian  Chapel,  erected  in  1866.  Joseph 
Lybarger  and  wife,  W.  E.  Magill  and  wife,  and  William 
Atwatter  and  wife,  were  among  the  first  members.  Elders 
Judy  and  Haughey  have  ministered  to  their  spiritual  wel- 
fare, since  the  zeal  of  the  early  settlers  frequently  led  them 
to  attend  meetings  from  ten  miles  away,  often  in  ox  wagons. 
William  Atwatter  and  Elizabeth  Ringhouse  were  married 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  287 

in  1840  by  Esquire  Parkhurst.  This  was  undoubtedly  the 
first  marriage  in  Quiver  township,  which  was  at  that  time 
in  Tazewell  county,  and  Mr.  Atwatter  had  to  procure  his 
license  at  Tremont.  The  first  doctor  was  Dr.  Buckner.  Dr. 
Allen  and  Dr.  Harpham  of  Havana,  also  cared  for  the  bod- 
ies of  the  Quiventers.  The  first  birth  was  Fidelia  Lybarger. 
The  first  death  was  Mrs.  Maria  Elan,  which  occurred  in 
1838.  Quiver  township  was  loyal  to  the  old  flag  in  the  late 
war,  many  of  her  sons,  yielding  up  their  lives  in  its  defense. 

The  village  of  Topeka  is  seven  miles  northeast  of  Ha- 
vana and  is  the  only  village  within  the  limits  of  Quiver 
township.  It  was  surveyed  for  Moses  Eckard  and  Richard 
Thomas  in  1858.  In  order  to  secure  the  town  site,  Eckard 
and  Thomas  bought  one  hundred  and  eighty  acres  of  David 
Beal  and  eighty  acres  was  made  into  the  town  plat.  Forty 
acres  were  donated  to  the  railroad  company  in  order  to  se- 
cure the  station.  The  first  resident  of  the  town  was  J.  L. 
Yates,  a  blacksmith,  who  had  worked  at  McHarry's  mill 
previous  to  coming  to  Topeka.  Dr.  E.  Z.  Nichols  built  the 
second  house  and  was  the  first  doctor.  Harrison  Venard 
was  the  third  resident.  He  was  from  Ohio  and  with  Ben 
Rosebrough  started  the  first  store,  which  in  a  couple  of 
months  was  under  the  name  of  Venard  &  Musleman.  A 
second  store  was  opened  by  Musleman  and  Aaron  Litell. 
Other  business  men  came,  till  it  seemed  that  Topeka  was  on 
the  road  to  prosperity.  A  grain  warehouse  was  built  in 
1860  by  Moses  Eckard.  R.  W.  Stires  of  St.  Louis,  was  the 
first  to  buy  grain  and  Porter  &  Walker  operated  at  different 
times.  The  grain  was  handled  in  sacks  and  shipped  in  flat 
cars.  Flower  Allen  and  Sherman  built  a  cheap  constructed 
elevator.  Low  and  Foster  came  next  and  entered  the  ring| 
A  neat  and  substantial  depot  was  soon  erected.  Harrison 
Venard  was  the  first  agent. 

The  Methodist  church  was  built  in  1865.  The  Rev.  T. 
J.  Simmons  was  the  first  preacher.  The  postoffice  was  es- 


288  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

tablished  in  1860.  The  village  was  incorporated  in  accord- 
ance with  an  act  of  the  legislature  in  1869.  Samuel  Yates, 
Philip  Brown  and  Robert  G.  Rider  were  elected  as  trustees. 
The  board  organized  by  electing  Samuel  Yates,  president; 
F.  S.  Allen,  clerk;  Philip  Brown,  police  magistrate,  and 
James  Norman,  constable.  The  income  was  very  light 
from  license  of  any  kind  and  the  improvements  were  paid 
by  taxation  or  by  contribution.  The  population  of  Topeka 
is  small  and,  while  it  does  not  grow,  it  manages  to  hold  its 
own. 

The  early  settlers  in  the  northern  part  of  Quiver  township 
were  the  Himmels,  of  which  there  were  several  families. 
Peter  Himmel  moved  from  Petersburg  away  back  in  the 
"forties"  and  there  was  George  Himmel,  who  lived  south  of 
Havana,  and  Adam  and  John  Himmel.  These  men  had  large 
families.  There  was  also  Henry  Bishop  and  a  score  of 
others,  but  it  would  take  1,000  pages  to  do  them  all  justice. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


FOREST  CITY  TOWNSHIP 

HIS  township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Manito 
township,  on  the  south  by  Pennsylvania  and 
Sherman,  on  the  west  by  Quiver  township. 
It  is  the  smallest  of  the  thirteen  townships. 
The  soil  and  general  characteristics  of  the  soil  do  not  differ 
from  the  adjoining  townships.  Timber  land  is  found  in 
the  north  part  of  the  township.  Quiver  Creek  is  a  small 
stream  flowing  through  from  east  to  west  and  this,  with 
artificial  drainage,  makes  it  a  good  agricultural  township. 
It  was  first  called  Mason  Plain,  but  the  name  was  changed 
to  Forest  City  in  1873,  the  reason  being  that  mistakes  oc- 
curred through  confusing  it  with  Mason  City. 

There  was  no  settlement  in  that  township  before  1840. 
Robert  Cross  came  from  New  Jersey  and 'settled  in  Green 
county  in  1839.  In  1842  there  were  only  four  or  five 
houses  standing  in  what  is  now  Forest  City  township, 
the  following  .  named  persons  constituting  the  residents : 
Henry  Bishop,  A.  Winthrow,  Peter  Himmel,  A.  File  and 
Stephen  Hedge.  Winthrow  came  there  in  1840  and  was 
no  doubt  the  first  settler.  Mr.  Cross  thinks  that  Himmel, 
File  and  Hedge  came  in  1842.  Winthrow,  File  and  Him- 
mel came  from  Germany ;  Hedge  came  from  Fulton  county. 
After  a  few  years'  residence,  Hedge  moved  back  to  Fulton 
county  and  died  there.  At  the  same  time,  there  lived  across 
the  line  of  Manito,  Ray  -  — ,  Riley  Morris  and  Abel 
Maloney.  In  1846  Alex  Pemberton  and  a  man  by  the 

19 


290  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

name  of  Babbit  settled  south  of  Forest  City.  They  were 
the  first  to  venture  away  from  the  woods.  Alex  Cross 
came  up  from  Quiver  and  settled  south  of  Forest  City 
the  same  year.  Slicky  Bill  Green  and  his  brother,  Nult 
Green,  were  from  Menard  and  William  Cooleridge  was 
from  Tennessee.  The  Greens  settled  on  the  south  side  of 
Quiver.  In  1852  Bill  sold  out  to  George  Neikirk  and 
moved  to  Menard  county.  His  brother,  Nult,  moved  to 
McDonough  county.  In  1850  the  west  side  of  the  town- 
ship was  increased  by  the  coming  of  August  Webber, 
•  Greenfelter,  E.  Harpst,  the  Weslings,  Wemhoffs 
and  Kreilings.  They  were  all  German  and  made  good  citi- 
zens. William  and  Garrett  Bruning  and  Fred  Lux  all 
pitched  their  tents  in  the  county.  In  the  spring  of  1852 
a  large  influx  came.  T.  H.  Ellsworth,  Joseph  Ellsworth, 
William  Ellsworth  and  W.  E.  Ellsworth  all  came  from 
Fulton  county.  T.  G.  Onstot  came  from  Havana.  The 
Neikirk  family  came  from  Ohio.  John  Bowser  came  from 
Ohio  at  the  same  time  as  Carl  Gamble,  Silas  Cheek,  Fred 
Foster,  John  Martin,  (called  Owlpatch  Martin),  William 
Ewers  and  Long  John  Martin.  Samuel  Ingersoll  located 
north  of  Red  Oak  Grove,  but  has  been  dead  a  score  of  years. 
Many  of  the  inconveniences  that  surrounded  Quiver 
and  Manito  townships  surrounded  Forest  City.  They  had 
to  haul  their  grain  a  long  way  to  market  and  had  to  haul 
their  lumber  home  the  same  distance.  Their  principal  mar- 
kets were  Pekin  and  Havana.  For  milling  they  had  to 
go  to  Mackinaw  or  across  into  Fulton  county.  The  journey 
to  Mackinaw  mills  generally  took  four  days,  as  they  al- 
ways waited  for  their  grist,  even  if  it  took  a  week.  Sim- 
mond's  and  McHarry's  mill  of  Quiver  in  a  fewr  years 
saved  the  people  from  going  so  far.  While  .the  early  set- 
tlers had  many  inconveniences,  they  also  had  many  o± 
the  blessings  that  we  cannot  now  boast  of.  They  had  all 
kinds  of  game,  that  could  be  had  for  the  killing.  It  did 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  291 

not  require  hunting,  as  there  was  always  an  abundance  on 
hand.  Alex  Cross,  who  is  considered  truthful,  says  that  on 
one  occasion  he  had  counted  fifty  deer  in  one  drove  and 
they  began  to  come  so  fast  that  he  lost  the  count.  T.  H. 
Ellsworth,  who  seldom  exaggerates,  saw  fifty-six  by  actual 
count.  Wild  game  was  so  abundant  that  farmers  had  to 
drive  them  out  of  their  fields  as  they  would  a  drove  of 
swine.  Civilization  has  driven  out  all  of  the  deer.  Dan 
Westfall,  with  a  pack  of  hounds,  settled  the  deer  question 
at  the  close  of  the  war.  Vast  and  mighty  changes  have 
come  over  the  country  ii;  the  last  fifty  years,  and  the  youth 
of  today  never  forget  hearing  the  pioneers  of  the  past 
tell  of  the  times  and  of  the  game,  that  used  to  roam  at 
will  over  the  vast  prairies.  The  hunter  of  today  would  have 
gone  wild  over  the  amount  of  game  we  had  in  early  times. 
Only  enough  game  was  killed  to  supply  the  table,  as  there 
was  no  way  to  ship  the  surplus. 

The  first  preacher  in  the  township  was  Rev.  Garner. 
He  had  an  appointment  every  three  weeks  at  William 
Ewers',  a  half  mile  south  of  Forest  City,  on  Thursday  af- 
ternoon at  3  p.  m.  The  early  pioneers  would  all  turn  out 
to  hear  Bro.  Garner.  Some  would  come  in  their  two  horse 
wagons,  some  on  horseback  and  some  in  their  ox  wagons. 
The  preacher  would  give  his  hymn  and  all  would  reverent- 
ly take  part,  and  when  the  meeting  was  over  the  audience 
would  not  do  as  they  do  now,  take  their  hats  and  run,  but 
have  a  kind  of  old  settlers  meeting  and  inquire  all  about 
their  neighbors  and  go  home  with  a  perfect  knowledge 
of  what  was  going  on  in  the  neighborhood.  Among  the 
other  Methodist  preachers  were  Rutledge  Randall  and  Peter 
Cartright.  These  were  the  men  who  planted  Methodism 
on  these  fertile  prairies.  Rev.  William  Perkins,  a  Pres- 
byterian, occasionally  ministered  to  those  who  were  in- 
clined to  that  doctrine.  The  meetings  were  held  in  private 
houses,  till  schoolhouses  were  built,  which, .  besides  being 


292  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

used  for  school  purposes,  were  used  for  preaching  places 
and  for  elections.  The  first  schoolhouse  in  the  township 
was  Union  No.  i,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of  Forest 
City.  John  Covington  was  the  first  teacher.  Other  houses 
were  built  as  fast  as  the  population  required  them.  The 
houses  were  neat  frame  buildings. 

The  first  Sunday  school  was  organized  by  Thomas  H. 
Ellsworth  in  the  spring  of  1853.  William  Ellsworth  was 
the  first  superintendent.  It  was  held  at  a  private  house 
till  the  building  of  the  schoolhouse  in  1854,  when  it  was 
transferred  to  that  point.  The  German  Methodist  and 
the  Evangelical  soon  built  houses  of  worship.  The  Al- 
bright Church  was  built  in  1856,  but  soon  grew,  till  it  had 
to  be  rebuilt.  There  are  forty  acres  of  land,  with  a  good 
parsonage  with  the  church;  also  a  well  kept  cemetery. 
Forest  City  has  a  large  German  population,  who  are  all 
good  citizens.  Taking  all  together,  Forest  City  will  com- 
pare with  adjoining  townships. 

The  village  of  Forest  City  was  surveyed  in  1859  by  J.  F. 
Cuppel  and  Alex  Cross  and  for  Walker,  Kemp,  Wright  and 
Wagonseller.  It  contained  forty-seven  acres.  An  addition 
of  twenty  acres  was  afterwards  made  in  the  north  part  of 
the  town  in  1865  by  David  S.  Broderick.  The  lines  of  the 
original  survey  ran  north  and  south,  but  were  never  re- 
corded. The  town  runs  parallel  with  the  railroad.  The 
town  is  seventeen  miles  south  of  Pekin  and  thirteen  miles 
north  of  Havana.  Alex  Cross  built  the  first  residence  in 
the  town.  T.  H.  Ellsworth  built  a  residence  in  1860. 
Josiah  Jackson,  S.  T.  Walker,  T.  A.  Gibson  and  E.  T. 
Neikirk  were  among  the  early  citizens  of  the  place.  Cross 
and  Walker  built  the  first  store  house  and  began  mer- 
chandising in  1 86 1.  Rogers  and  brother  built  the  second 
and  opened  it  up.  The  business  grew,  till  there  were  sev- 
eral stores  in  the  village.  A  large  amount  of  grain  was 
shipped  on  flat  cars  to  Havana  in  the  early  part  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


293 


"sixties."  The  grain  would  be  sacked  and  piled  up  on  the 
track  and  when  the  train  came  along  the  owner  would 
have  a  lot  of  men  to  load  one  hundred  and  fifty  sacks, 
as  he  had  the  privilege  to  ride  on  his  load  of  grain  to  Ha- 
vana. The  High  school  building  was  erected  in  1877.  The 
first  physician  was  Dr.  Mostiler  and  was  the  first  to  locate 
near  the  town.  E.  G.  Nichols  was  here  quite  early.  Dr. 
James  Walker  came  next.  A  lodge  of  Good  Templars  was 
organized  in  1865.  A  good  substantial  iron  bridge  over 
Quiver  was  erected  just  south  of  the  town.  The  first  iron 
bridge  in  the  county  was  built  somewhere  in  the  "seventies" 
and  the  road  across  the  bottom,  which  had  been  impass- 
able for  loaded  teams,  was  gravelled  with  one  hundred 
loads  of  gravel.  Forest  City  was  without  any  settlements 
half  a  century  ago.  Now  it  is  dotted  all  over  with  fine 
farm  houses,  large  barns  and  towering  wind  mills.  The 
people  ride  in  fine  carriages  and  they  are  intelligent.  It 
has  the  finest  looking  women,  the  best  cattle,  the  best 
horses,  the  most  intelligent  children  in  the  county  and 
furthermore  the  deponent  saith  not. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

MANITO  TOWNSHIP 

HE  township  of  Manito  is  situated  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  Mason  county  and  comprises 
about  forty-five  sections.  It  is  somewhat  ir- 
regular in  shape,  being  eight  miles  along  its 
northern  boundary  by  nine  miles  north  and  south  along  its 
eastern  line ;  the  extreme  west  line  is  four  miles  from  north  to 
south.  With  the  exception  of  two  or  three  small  groves  in 
the  north  and  northwestern  portions  of  the  township,  the 
entire  township  is  a  vast,  level  prairie.  The  central, 
eastern  and  southeastern  portions  are  flat,  but  susceptible 
of  drainage.  When  the  first  settlers  came,  much  of  this 
county  was  set  down  as  swamp  lands,  but  this,  by  artificial 
drainage,  has  been  converted  into  the  most  productive  farms 
in  her  limits ;  and  where  once  wild  geese  and  ducks  in 
countless  numbers  swam  lazily  or  floated  calmly  undis- 
turbed upon  the  stagnant  water,  may  now  be  seen  finely 
cultivated  farms  teeming  with  the  golden  harvest. 

The  soil  is  a  deep  black  loam,  mixed  with  sand,  but  is 
exceptionally  fertile  and  productive.  Indeed,  such  a  vast 
amount  of  corn,  wheat  and  oats  are  produced  in  Manito 
township  that  it  is  justly  called  Egypt.  Water  is  easily 
obtained  by  drive  wells  in  any  part  of  the  township  and 
when  a  well  is  once  made  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  water 
is  obtained  for  all  time,  and  the  farmer  has  only  to  erect 
a  wind  mill  over  the  well  to  have  a  running  stream  that 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  295 

will  water  his  herds  and  flocks  with  pure  and  fresh  water 
the  year  round.  The  northwestern  part  of  the  township 
is  more  broken  and  the  soil  is  lighter,  but  produces  well. 
The  soil  can  stand  drought  or  wet  weather  longer  than 
Egypt  of  old. 

Manito  township  is  thus  bounded :  It  lies  north  of 
Forest  City,  east  of  Quiver  and  south  and  west  of  Tazewell. 
Black  Oak  Grove  in  the  northeast,  Coon  Grove  in  the  cen- 
ter and  Long  Point  in  the  west  comprise  the  timber  to  be 
found  in  Manito.  Walnut  Grove  is  a  small  piece  of  tim- 
ber west  of  Manito.  As  was  the  case  in  other  parts  of  the 
county,  the  first  settlements  were  made  in  the  timber.  No 
matter  how  unproductive  the  land  along  the  timber  belt, 
nor  how  rich  the  prairie  might  be,  the  early  pioneer  built 
his  cabin  and  began  to  clear  out  a  farm  in  the  brush,  leaving 
to  his  successor  the  fine  prairie  lands  to  improve. 

The  first  settler  was  one  William  Herron,  who  settled 
in  1838,  east  of  the  village  of  Manito.  He  had  corne  from 
Ohio  to  Mackinaw  and  then  to  Mason  county  and  settled 
in  Black  Oak  Grove.  His  sister  kept  house  for  him.  He 
died  and  was  buried  on  his  farm.  Few,  if  any,  of  the 
present  generation  can  point  out  his  grave.  At  or  near  this 
time  came  Stephen  W.  Porter  with  his  wife  and  settled 
in  the  corporate  limits  of  Manito  near  the  edge  of  the  pond. 
Porter  was  a  nephew  of  Herron's  and  also  came  from  Macki- 
naw. A  man  by  the  name  of  Ray  settled  between  Coon 
Grove  and  Long  Point,  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  W.  H. 
Cogdel.  In  1840  he  built  a  cabin,  which  was  the  third 
permanent  settlement  in  the  township.  Soon  after  he  came 
he  planted  some  apple  seeds.  Some  of  the  apple  trees  are 
still  standing  near  the  railroad.  After  a  few  years'  resi- 
dence he  sold  out  to  Cogdel  and  started  back  to  New  York, 
but  died  on  the  way.  Labor  was  very  low  and  money  scarce 
and  a  man  could  hire  his  rails  made  for  twenty-five  cents 
per  hundred  and  take  his  pay  in  meat  at  twelve  and  a  half 
cents  a  pound. 


296  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Among  the  settlers  who  came  as  early  as  1845  were  Abel 
Maloney,  Layton  Rice,  George  Baxter,  John  Davis,  King 
Hibbard,  James  Green,  Thomas  Landreth,  Zeno  Ashmore, 
William  Mayes,  Douglas  Ossborn  and  Wesley  Brisborn. 
Maloney  came  from  Virginia  and  first  settled  in  Menard 
county  in  1838.  Coming  to  Manito  in  1841,  he  settled  near 
the  Union  Station.  We  was  in  poor  circumstances  when  he 
came,  but  accumulated  means  rapidly  and  was  considered 
wealthy  at  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1849. 

Rice  came  from  Kentucky  and  first  settled  in  Menard 
county,  but  came  to  Coon  Grove  in  1842.  George  Baxter 
was  from  Kentucky,  but  settled  in  Long  Point  as  early  as 
1842.  He  was  somewhat  noted  among  the  early  settlers 
for  his  matrimonial  taste,  as  his  wife  had  some  African 
blood  in  her  veins.  He  had  come  to  Illinois  that  he  might 
enjoy  connubial  bliss  unmolested,  but  it  seemed  that  the 
people  were  against  him  and  he  was  entered  out  by  Robert 
Green.  He  next  located  near  Simmond's  Mill,  finally  mov- 
ing west,  and  no  more  was  heard  of  him. 

Davis  settled  on  the  Randolph  farm.  He  was  remembered 
among  the  pioneers  as  the  man  who  was  never  seen  wear- 
ing a  glove  or  a  mitten,  no  matter  how  cold  it  was,  he  was 
always  bare  handed. 

Hibbard  came  from  Mackinaw  and  settled  in  the  north 
part  of  Black  Oak  Grove.  In  a  few  years  he  sold  out  and 
bought  three  yoke  of  oxen  from  Thomas  Landreth  and 
started  for  Oregon,  but  was  never  heard  of  afterwards. 

James  Green  came  from  Menard  county,  but  in  a  few 
years  moved  back.  About  the  same  time  Zeno  and  Calvin 
Ashmore  came  from  Indiana.  Calvin  was  known  as 
Jehinky.  They  were  a  shiftless  set. 

Thomas  Landreth  came  from-  Virginia  and  settled  at 
Mackinaw  as  early  as  1825.  In  1844  he  came  to  Coon 
Grove  and  bought  the  claim  of  Layton  Rice.  Landreth 
became  a  permanent  settler.  When  he  came  he  had  a  family 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  297 

of  six  children.  He  was  twice  married  and  was  the  father 
of  twenty-two  children. 

William  Mayes  and  Douglas  Ossborn  were  from  Ken- 
tucky, the  Brisborns  from  Mackinaw.  Mayes  was  known 
by  the  name  of  "Ham  Legs."  He  was  so  called  on  ac- 
count of  being  very  bow-legged. 

While  this  portion  of  the  country  did  not  increase  in 
population  very  rapidly  until  some  years  later,  still  there 
was  a  steady  growth.  As  early  as  1850  we  can  add  to  the 
names  already  given  James  Overton,  Amos  Ganson,  Wil- 
liam and  Nult  Green  and  Col.  Robert  Moore.  Jacobs  was 
from  New  York,  Overton  from  Kentucky.  Amos  Ganson 
settled  in  Egypt  and  opened  up  a  blacksmith  shop.  Col. 
Moore  was  from  Kentucky.  His  parents  settled  in  Menard 
county.  He  was  a  soldier  in  the  Mexican  War.  He  located 
his  land  warrant  in  Manito  township,  becoming  a  resident 
in  1849.  He  helped  to  build  up  the  village  of  Spring  Lake. 
He  built  a  warehouse  and  engaged  in  the  grain  business 
as  early  as  1852. 

John  Pemberton  (called  Uncle  Jacky),  Emery  Hall, 
Matthew  Langston,  James  M.  Langston,  M.  W.  Rogers, 
James  K.  Cox,  Riley  Morris  and  John  O.  Randolph  were 
citizens  of  Manito  township  as  early  as  1851;  the  rest  all 
came  in  1850.  The  Langstons  came  from  Tennessee  to 
Morgan  county,  and  Rogers  was  from  Kentucky.  The 
Langstons  and  Rogers  purchased  improvements  from 
James  McCoy.  Joseph  Luse  settled  in  the  neighborhood 
and  after  living  there  fifteen  years  returned  to  England. 
James  K.  Cox  was  a  native  of  Virginia. 

When  the  settlers  first  came,  the  prairie  stretching  back 
east -from  the  river  was  a  grand,  imposing  scene  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  reach.  The  tall,  blue  stemmed  prairie  grass 
was  waving  like  the  boundless  sea,  and  this,  with  myriads 
of  flowers  of  all  colors  and  hues,  awakened  feelings  of 
admiration,  which  the  finest  landscape  failed  to  inspire. 


298  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Many  of  the  flowers  planted  by  Nature's  God  far  surpassed 
in  beauty  those  of  rarest  culture  of  today.  Every  fall  the 
whole  face  of  the  country  was  swept  by  fire,  the  flames  of 
which  would  sweep  high  up  in  the  heavens,  then  descend, 
reaching  a  hundred  feet  ahead.  None  but  those  who  have 
seen  our  prairie  fires  of  thirty  years  ago  can  comprehend 
their  grandeur. 

At  the  date  of  the  early  settlement,  game  of  all  kinds 
was  plentiful.  It  was  not  uncommon  to  see  herds  of  deer 
in  droves  of  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  and  their 
course  was  plainly  marked  by  the  parting  of  the  tall  grass. 
Oft  times  they  would  come  within  gunshot  reach  of  the 
pioneer's  cabin;  oft  times  they  would  destroy  the  settlers' 
garden  in  one  night.  Wild  geese,  ducks  and  cranes  were  in 
abundance  and  annoyed  the  pioneer  by  destroying  his  crops. 
The  wolf  and  the  fox  came  in  for  their  share  by  robbing 
hen  roosts,  pig  sties  and  sheep  cotes. 

When  Abel  Maloney  first  came,  he  brought  his  two 
oldest  boys,  William  and  John,  and  some  little  stock. 
After  building  his  cabin  he  returned  to  Menard  county 
for  his  wife  and  the  rest  of  the  family,  leaving  the  boys  to 
take  care  of  the  house  and  look  after  the  stock.  William 
thus  relates  the  experience :  "After  my  father  left  us,  a 
rain  set  in  which  so  raised  the  Sangamon  and  Salt  Creek 
that  he  could  not  return  for  four  weeks.  At  night  the  boys 
would  take  the  geese  and  ducks  and  chickens,  with  the  dogs 
into  the  cabin  and  lock  the  doors.  As  soon  as  twilight 
appeared,  the  wolves  began  their  nightly  orgies,  and  be- 
tween the  squealing  of  the  hogs  and  the  howling  of  the 
wolves  night  was  rendered  hideous.  Indeed,  they  some- 
times feared  that  from  the  vigor  with  which  the  wolves 
scratched  at  the  door,  they  might  effect  an  entrance  and 
make  mince  meat  of  their  bodies.  When  Abel  Maloney 
returned  home,  not  a  hog  was  left.  The  old  folks  were 
welcomed  heartily  on  their  return." 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  299 

Coon  Grove  derived  its  name  from  the  vast  number  of 
coons  found  there  in  the  early  days.  The  woods  were 
full  of  them.  Many  of  the  trees  were  hollow  and  had 
Indian  ladders  beside  them,  saplings  with  the  limbs  cut 
off  some  distance  from  the  body,  and  holes  chopped  into 
the  trees,  evidently  the  work  of  the  Indians  in  attempts  to 
catch  the  coon.  Mr.  Maloney  states  that  at  certain  sea- 
sons of  the  year  they  would  go  out  into  the  fields  and  drive 
them  out  like  sheep,  so  destructive  were  they  to  their  crops. 
The  pioneers  by  no  means  lived  a  life  of  luxury.  Homes 
were  to  be  provided,  farms  were  to  be  made  and  farm  im- 
plements provided  for  the  successful  cultivation.  Money 
was  scarce,  for  they  were  men  of  limited  means  who  had 
left  their  homes  to  try  their  fortunes  in  a  new  country. 
Their  milling  was  done  twenty  miles  away;  their  trading 
was  done  in  Pekin,  Mackinaw,  Delavan  and  Havana.  At 
these  points  they  sold  their  produce  and  bought  their  dry 
goods  and  groceries.  In  times  of  high  water  they  would 
take  their  grist  to  Spring  Lake  "by  ox  teams  and  then  by 
skiff  to  Utica,  rowing  a  distance  of  from  eight  to  ten  miles. 
If  a  plow  needed  repairing  it  must  be  taken  to  Pekin, 
Mackinaw  or  Havana.  It  took  all  summer  to  raise  a  crop 
and  all  winter  to  deliver  it. 

An  unfailing  indication  that  the  Sabbath  day  had  come 
was  to  see  the  women  equipped  with  fishing  tackle  and  the 
men  with  guns,  all  parties  headed  for  Spring  Lake.  Here 
the  day  was  passed  in  pleasure  seeking  and  merry  making. 
Sometimes  the  men  would  stake  off  a  race  course  and  in- 
dulge in  foot  racing.  We  are  by  no  means  to  conclude 
that  they  were  savage  in  their  disposition,  for  no  one  was 
more  hospitable  to  a  stranger  in  need  than  were  the  early 
settlers  in  Manito.  It  was  simply  their  way  of  enjoying 
themselves.  Fighting  and  quarreling  were  almost  unknown 
among  them  and  if  friendly  fist  cuffs  sometimes  occurred 
they  generally  quit  good  friends.  They  did  not  neglect 


300  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

the  education  of  their  children,  so  we  find  them  at  an  early 
day  building  schoolhouses  and  maintaining  schools  by  sub- 
scriptions. The  first  schoolhouse  in  the  township  was  at 
Coon  Grove  near  Samuel  Starrett's.  The  house  was  a  log 
cabin  sixteen  feet  square  and  had  a  window  of  three  lights. 
It  may  have  been  a  little  dark  on  cloudy  days,  but  was 
well  adapted  for  its  purpose.  It  was  covered  with  clap- 
boards, and  the  drops  of  rain  came  down  inside  as  well  as 
outside.  Stephen  W.  Porter  was  the  first  teacher.  The 
second  shoolhouse  was  a  hewn  log  house  built  within  the 
present  limits  of  Manito.  Miss  Adeline  Broderick  and  Mrs. 
Rachel  Ott  were  among  the  first  teachers. 

The  first  postoffice  in  Manito  township  was  kept  by 
Col.  R.  S.  Moore  at  his  residence  on  the  Peter  Gay  farm. 
This  was  established  in  1857,  in  the  route  from  Havana 
to  Delavan.  It  was  called  Pilot  Hill,  being  named  after 
a  big  hill  nearby.  A  year  or  so  later  it  was  father  south 
at  the  residence  of  John  Pemberton.  At  a  still  later  date 
it  was  taken  to  Berkdresser's  store  at  Egypt  Station,  and 
finally,  when  the  railroad  station  was  moved  to  Manito, 
the  name  of  Manito  was  given  to  the  office. 

The  Methodist,  Baptist  and  Presbyterian  Churches  came 
with  the  first  settlers.  Rev.  William  Colvell,  a  Methodist 
preacher,  was  probably  the  first.  He  was  an  Englishman 
and  lived  in  the  east  end  of  Tight  Row.  He  preached  at 
Bro.  Paul's  at  Spring  Lake  and  at  the  end  of  his  meetings 
he  took  a  vote  whether  they  wanted  any  more  meetings  or 
not.  Colvell  was  a  local  preacher  and  Bro.  Paul  voted  to 
have  meetings,  saying  that  he  was  in  favor  of  meetings, 
"if  it  was  not  quite  so  good."  .In  1853,  Peter  Cartright 
held  a  campmeeting  at  Walnut  Grove,  when  many  people 
were  converted. 

Dr.  John  Allen,  who  resided  near  McHarry's  Mill,  was 
the  first  doctor  that  practiced  medicine  in  the  township. 
Dr.  Mostiler  came  next.  He  studied  under  Allen.  The 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  301 

first  resident  practitioner  was  Dr.  J.  B.  Meggs  who  came 
from  Macoupin  county.  Richard  L.  Porter  was  the  first 
child  born  in  the  township.  The  first  death  was  that  of 
Wm.  Herron.  The  first  wedding  was  that  of  Alexander 
Grove  and  Polly  Ashmore.  Among  the  citizens  who  have 
been  honored  are  John  Pemberton  and  Matthew  Langston. 
Uncle  Jacky  was  chosen  associate  justice  of  the  county  in 
1849.  He  was  chosen  to  represent  the  county  in  the  lower 
house  at  an  early  day.  It  is  said  that  Uncle  Jacky  was  a 
great  man  to  electioneer  and  sometimes  would  get  over  in 
Tazewell  to  get  votes.  A  vote  was  taken  for  and  against 
township  organization  in  1861,  the  vote  for  adoption  being 
carried.  The  Hon.  Lyman  Lacy,  of  Havana,  Major  Gatton, 
of  Bath,  and  Matthew  Langston,  of  Manito,  were  chosen 
commissioners  to  divide  the  county  in  townships,  and  Mat- 
thew Langston  was  the  supervisor  for  three  terms  in  suc- 
cession. In  1865  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of  county 
judge,  but  resigned  at  the  close  of  two  years.  In  1871  he 
was  elected  to  the  legislature,  and  then  engaged  in  mer- 
chandising in  Manito. 


THE  ALLWOOD  TRAGEDY 

In  1849  or  1850,  Benjamin  Allwood,  with  two  sons, 
Jack  and  Hugh-  Allwood,  settled  south  of  Manito.  The 
Allwood  family  had  some  money  and  entered  a  lot  of  the 
best  land  in  the  township.  From  various  causes  they  be- 
came unpopular  with  their  neighbors.  The  feeling  grew 
until  it  culminated  in  open  demonstrations,  and  in  1854  a 
partly  in  disguise  waited  on  the  Allwoods  and  informed  them 
that  they  must  leave  the  county.  The  Allwoods  told  them 
that  they  had  come  to  stay  and  did  not  intend  to  be  fright- 
ened away.  Not  long  afterwards,  a  crop  of  wheat  was  burned 


302  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

in  the  stack.  It  was  the  impression  that  the  Allwoods  knew 
something  about  the  burning  of  the  wheat  and  the  Allwood 
crop  was  burned  in  retaliation.  This  was  followed  up  by 
the  burning  of  the  house  and  the  shooting  of  Hugh  and  one 
of  his  sisters.  The  shooting,  however,  did  not  prove  fatal. 
After  the  burning  of  their  home,  the  Allwood  family  moved 
to  Quiver  and  remained  a  short  time.  Returning,  they 
built  a  hewn  log  house  and  set  about  raising  crops.  In 
the  fall  of  1856,  while  Jack  Allwood  was  in  his  field  cut- 
ting up  corn,  he  was  shot  by  unknown  parties  and  killed. 
This  put  an  end  to  the  prosecution  of  the  parties  supposed 
to  have  been  engaged  in  the  destruction  of  their  crops. 


VILLAGE  OF  MANITO 

The  village  of  Manito  was  surveyed  and  platted  by 
James  Boggs  for  James  K.  Cox,  Robert  M.  Cox  and  Wil- 
liam A.  Langston.  In  1858,  soon  after  laying  out  the  town, 
Hugh  Fullerton,  of  Havana,  acquired  an  interest  for  the 
influence  exerted  by  him  in  securing  the  site  for  a  depot. 
One  hundred  and  ten  acres  were  laid  out  in  blocks,  streets 
and  alleys.  Manito  did  not  increase,  much  until  the  close  of 
the  war. 

Egypt  Station  had  the  advantage  in  the  beginning,  as 
she  already  had  the  advantage  of  two  or  more  stores  and 
the  postoffice,  but  Manito  secured  the  depot,  and  the  scepter 
departed  from  Egypt.  Spring  Lake  was  established  in  1851 
and  contributed  to  the  building  up  of  Manito  by  giving  her 
business  men  and  population  to  swell  the  newly  begun  vil- 
lage. The  residence  of  James  K.  Cox  stood  near  the  cen- 
ter of  the  town.  The  first  business  house  was  erected  by 
Jams  K.  Cox  and  occupied  by  E.  A.  Rosher  as  a  general 
merchandise  store.  The  second  store  was  kept  by  J.  P.  and 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  303 

A.  Trent.  A.  M.  Pollard  opened  a  grocery  store  in  1861. 
S.  Mosher  started  a  drug  store  in  1865.  In  1868  Smith, 
Hippen  &  Co.  built  an  elevator  at  a  cost  of  $5,000.00,  which 
was  operated  by  Fred  Knollhoff.  Previous  to  the  building 
of  the  elevator,  J.  P.  Cranvill  had  bought  grain  and  shipped 
it  in  sacks.  J.  A.  McComas  built  an  elevator  in  1878. 
Grier  &  Co.,  of  Peoria,  took  charge  of  it ;  it  was  burned  in 
1879.  The  village  of  Manito  is  conceded  to  be  the  best 
grain  point  between  Pekin  and  Havana.  The  village  was 
incorporated  under  the  Springfield  and  Quincy  act  in  1866, 
and  continued  under  this  act  until  1875,  when  it  was  re- 
organized under  the  general  law  for  cities  and  villages. 
The  Methodist  Church  was  first  built  in  1867.  Among  the 
early  preachers  we  find  the  names  of  Middleton,  Sloan  and 
Goldsmith.  Rev.  Sloan  walked  over  his  circuit.  He  said 
his  master  never  rode  and  that  he  was  no  better  than  his 
master.  He  always  wore  a  blue  jeans  suit.  In  1870  J.  N. 
Shantholzer  erected  a  steam  mill,  having  two  runs  of  stones 
and  capable  of  turning  out  twenty  barrels  a  day. 

The  early  settlers  of  the  village  were  fond  of  playing 
jokes  upon  each  other  and  sometimes  attacked  strangers. 
Before  it  was  incorporated,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Moore 
came  there  and  desired  a  license  to  keep  a  saloon.  He  ap- 
proached Joe  Cranvill  on  the  subject.  Joe  charged  him 
$25.00,  which  he  paid.  Joe  shoved  the  money  down  into 
his  pocket  and  then,  letting  the  boys  into  the  secret,  spent 
most  of  it  in  setting  them  up.  Nothing  was  said  about  it 
and  it  was  some  time  before  the  man  found  out  that  he  had 
been  tricked  out  of  his  money. 

The  early  citizens  will  remember  the  days  when  the 
High  Cod  court  existed.  It  was  not  a  chartered  institu- 
tion, but  it  existed.  Some  individual  would  be  charged 
with  a  crime  and  the  court  would  assemble  and  proceed  to 
try  the  offender.  The  person  presiding  was  called  "Honor- 
able Judge  Advocate,"  and  his  opinion  was  final  in  all 


304 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


matters  that  came  before  him.  Witnesses  were  called  who 
were  not  expected  to  tell  the  truth.  Indeed,  the  oath  ad- 
ministered had  a  saving  clause  for  the  prosecution  in  these 
words :  "And  you  furthermore  swear  that  you  will  not 
tell  the  truth  in  the  case  now  pending."  No  matter  how 
clearly  the  defendant  might  prove  his  innocence,  convic- 
tion was  sure  to  follow.  The  penalty  was  the  drinks  for 
the  crowd  and  usually  cost  the  defendant  $1.00.  But  those 
days  have  long  since  passed  away  and  yet  the  old  citizens 
love  to  recount  them  and  live  over  their  early  days  of  fun 
and  frolic.  The  name  "Manito"  was  taken  from  the  In- 
dian word,  "Manitou,"  the  meaning  of  which  can  hardly 
be  determined. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

ALLEN'S  GROVE  TOWNSHIP 

HE  FIRST  settler  in  Allen's  Grove  township, 
that  we  have  any  account  of,  was  a  man  named 
Allen.  He  came  to  the  grove,  that  bears  his 
name  in  1830.  He  had  a  crop  of  wheat  the 
winter  of  the  deep  snow,  having  forty  acres  which  is  said 
to  have  yielded  fifty  bushels  per  acre.  What  disposition 
he  made  of  it  is  not  known,  as  there  was  no  market  nearer 
than  Pekin  or  Peoria.  It  is  said  by  some,  that  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Smith  settled  there  about  the  same  time.  Both 
were  -bachelors.  Of  Smith  nothing  is  known.  Allen  is 
said  to  have  come  from  Kentucky  and,  after  staying  at 
the  Grove  two  years,  to  have  gone  to  St.  Louis.  The 
account  given  of  these  two  primitive  squatters  is  more  tra- 
ditional than  historical.  David  Taylor  came  from  Ten- 
nessee in  1831  and  bought  Allen's  claim.  He  resided  there 
till  his  death  and  was  buried  near  the  spot  where  he  had 
lived  so  many  years.  A  number  of  his  relatives  are  still 
living  in  the  township.  The  first  entry  of  land  in  the  town- 
ship was  made  by  Benjamin  Kellogg,  of  Pekin.  This  was 
under  a  patent  from  the  United  States,  bearing  date  Sep- 
tember 29,  1832.  Samuel  Larrimore  had  settled  near 
Mackinaw  in  an  early  day  and  came  to  Allen's  Grove  near 
the  close  of  the  "thirties,"  though  the  exact  date  of  his 
removal  could  not  be  ascertained.  He  remained  a  citizen 
until  he  moved  to  Kansas.  James  Higgins  and  James 
Sherry  came  there  early  in  1844  from  Kentucky.  Sherry 
20 


306  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

was  a  single  man  but  married  a  daughter  of  David  Taylor. 
Settlements  were  made  slowly  for  several  years  until 
land  began  to  grow  scarce  in  favored  localities.  Harvey 
Hawthorn  settled  east  of  the  Grove  in  1848.  He  was  from 
Kentucky,  but  moved  from  Crane  Creek  before  he  came  to 
Allen's  Grove.  After  a  residence  of  several  years  he  moved 
back  to  Crane  Creek.  About  the  same  time  the  settlement 
was  increased  by  the  coming  of  Hiram  Stanton,  Alex. 
Woods,  Levi  Engle  and  George  Alkers.  Stanton  was  from 
New  Jersey,  Woods  and  Alkers  from  Ohio,  while  Engle 
was  a  Hoosier  and  also  a  preacher.  These  were  all  in 
the  township  before  1850.  During  the  years  of  1850  and 
1851  the  following  new  settlers  came  in:  Samuel  Hingle- 
ford,  George  and  Lewis  Dowell,  John  Nagle,  William  Legg, 
Hank  Wadkins,  Benjamin  Davenport,  Joseph  Taylor. 
George  Leoni  and  Jackson  Houchin.  These  all  settled  not 
far  from  the  Grove,  and  it  was  some  years  later  before  any 
settlers  had  courage  to  venture  out  on  the  prairies.  The 
most  of  those  who  located  in  the  township  as  early  as 
1851,  have  crossed  the  dark  river  or  sought  other  fields 
of  labor.  Jack  Roundtree  came  from  Ohio  in  1851  with 
Magee.  He  had  quite  an  amount  of  money  for  one  in  those 
days  and,  there  being  no  banks  at  that  time,  he  intrusted 
it  to  Mother  Earth.  Some  time  after  burying  it  he  decided 
to  make  a  draw  on  his  bank  and  after  much  fruitless  search- 
ing he  gave  it  up  for  lost.  Some  days  after,  a  hen  scratch- 
ing for  her  daily  food,  scratched  it  up  and  brought  the 
lost  treasure  to  the  surface.  The  Houchin  family  came 
from  Kentucky  to  Indiana  in  1836.  In  1850  Jackson  sev- 
ered the  ties  that  bound  him  to  the  paternal  roof,  and  set 
sail  in  an  ox  team  for  Mason  county.  He  built  a  cabin 
and  spent  the  summer  and  winter  of  1850  in  Salt  Creek 
township.  In  1851  he  came  to  Allen's  Grove,  entered  a 
quarter  section,  built  a  cabin  and  began  farming.  At  the 
date  of  his  settlement,  but  three  cabins  had  been  erected. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  307 

On  the  road  to  Delavan,  a  distance  of  fourteen  miles,  on 
either  hand  the  broad  expanse  of  prairie  stretched  away 
as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.    The  first  year  after  Houchin 
came  proved  to  be  a  very  sickly  one,  and  to  such  an  extent 
did  bilious  fever,  flux,  chills  and  fever  prevail  that  there 
were  but  two  well  families  in  the  whole  settlement.  The 
doctors  \vere  not  then  found,  as  now,  on  every  cross  road 
and  in  every  town  and  hamlet.     Hiram  Sykes,  who  in  this 
day  would  be  considered  a  "home  made  physician,"  lived 
in  Sugar  Grove  and  to  his  hands  the  entire  settlement  com- 
mitted their  destiny.     By  strict  attention  to  his  patients  he 
restored  them  to  health  and  at  the  end  of  a  month's  faith- 
ful service  he  had  so  conquered  the  disease  as  to  be  per- 
mitted to  visit  his  own  home,  the  first  time  since  coming  to 
Allen's    Grove.     The    following   year,    a   difficulty   having 
arisen  between  .him   and   his   son,    he  mounted   his   horse 
and    rode    away    and  did  not  return.       During  the  years 
of  1852  and   1853  the  names  of  Daniel  Dillon,  Jonathan 
Hyatt,    Talmon   and   the   McKinneys   were   added   to   the 
settlers  of  the  township.     Dillon  was  a  native  of  North 
Carolina.     Eight  brothers  of  them  came  west  and  settled 
on  the  north  side  of  Mackinaw  in  1822.     They  opened  up 
farms  near  Tremont  in  what  is  now  Dillon  township.     The 
red  men  in  the  forest  were  their  only  neighbors.    Their  early 
habitations  gave  rest  and  comfort  to  many  a  way  worn 
traveler  without  money  or  price.     At  the  time  of  settle- 
ment, they  were  included  in  the  limits  of  Sangamon  county. 
His  brother,   Nathan,  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  his 
jurisdiction  extended  to  Chicago.     Daniel  Dillon  took  up 
his'  residence  in  Allen's  Grove  township  in  1852.     He  was 
one  of  the  proprietors  of  San  Jose.     Hyatt  and  the  Mc- 
Kinneys were  from  Indiana.     Talmon  was  from  the  east 
and  had  spent  much  of  his  life  upon  the  sea.     The  nearest 
trading    point    was    Delavan.     To    purchase    the    smallest 
amount   of   merchandise   it   required   a   journey   of  thirty 


308  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

'miles;  to  get  a  plow  sharpened,  it  took  the  same  amount 
of  travel.  Their  milling  was  done  at  Mackinaw,  either  at 
Doolittle's  or  Woodrow's  mills.  Their  mail  was  also  re- 
ceived from  Delavan. 

The  era  of  railroads  gave  every  section  conveniences  to 
which  they  were  strangers  before.  Dr.  J.  P.  Walker  was 
the  first  medical  practitioner.  In  1857  he  helped  to  lay  out 
Mason  City  and  in  1859  made  it  his  permanent  home.  The 
first  school  building  was  erected  in  1853.  The  old  log 
schoolhouse  is  still  dear  to  memory.  The  first  teacher  was 
a  Miss  Woods,  daughter  of  Aleck  Woods.  The  earliest 
religious  services  were  held  by  the  Rev.  Levi  Engle,  a 
preacher  of  the  new  light  order.  Rev.  George  Miller  was 
the  first  circuit  rider.  Meetings  were  held  in  private  houses 
till  the  schoolhouse  was  built.  The  remarkable  hail  storm 
that  occurred  throughout  this  section  of  the  country  on 
the  2/th  of  May,  1852,  is  well  remembered  by  the  settlers. 
The  storm  was  of  short  duration,  yet  the  vast  amount  of 
hail  that  fell  to  the  depth  of  six  feet  drifted  so  that  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  following,  large  quantities  could  be 
gathered  up.  Mr.  Houchin  was  an  eye  witness  to  this  fact. 
As  late  as  1851  four-fifths  of  the  land  in  the  township  had 
not  been  entered.  During  the  years  of  1851  and  1852  large 
tracts  were  entered  by  capitalists. 

With  the  completion  of  the  C.  &  A.  Railroad  from 
Jacksonville  to  Bloomington  came  a  flood  of  settlers  and 
the  establishment  of  towns  along  its  line.  Though  of  but 
recent  settlement  when  compared  with  other  sections  of 
the  county,  in  the  importance  and  value  of  its  products  it 
ranks  second  to  none  in  the  county.  It  embraces  within 
its  limits  large  areas  as  well  adapted  to  agriculture  as  any 
to  be  found  in  this  entire  region.  Her  educational  inter- 
est has  kept  pace  with  her  rapid  development;  she  is  well 
supplied  with  schoolhouses  in  which  school  is  kept  most  OL 
the  year. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  309 


VILLAGE    OF    SAN    JOSE. 

This  village  is  in  the  extreme  northeast  part  of  the 
township  and  was  surveyed  and  platted  by  E.  Z.  Hunt, 
county  surveyor,  in  1857  for  Daniel  Dillon,  Alexander  W. 
Morgan,  Silas  Parker  and  Zenas  B.  Redder.  The  original 
plat  contained  fifteen  blocks,  three  hundred  feet  square,  and 
eleven  fractional  blocks.  These  were  subdivided  into  two 
hundred  and  thirty-five  lots  and  fifteen  fractional  lots.  The 
lots  adjoining  the  railroad  were  donated  to  the  company 
to  secure  the  location  of  the  depot.  After  laying  out  the 
village,  a  public  sale  of  lots  was  held  and  $3,000  was 
realized.  Private  sales  were  made  until  $4,000  or  $5,000 
was  realized.  The  investment  in  many  instances  proved  a 
loss,  inasmuch  as  the  town  failed  to  grow  as  rapidly  as 
the  purchasers  anticipated,  and  many,  feeling  that  they  had 
made  a  bad  investment,  sold  their  interest  at  a  sacrifice. 
Moses  C.  Hicks  made  an  addition  in  1868.  At  a  later 
date,  Willis  Graft  and  John  Lineberger  made  an  addition 
on  the  east.  This  last  was  just  across  the  line  in  Logan 
county.  Moses  C.  Hicks  erected  the  first  residence  in  the 
village — a  business  house  and  residence  combined.  In  this 
building  he  opened  a  general  stock  of  merchandise  in  1858. 
He  came  from  Atlanta,  Logan  county,  where  he  had  been 
engaged  in  the  same  business.  The  second  building  was 
erected  by  Morgan  and  Luper  and  was  occupied  as  a  hard- 
ware store.  Dillon  and  Morgan  soon  became  the  pro- 
prietors of  this  store,  and  at  the  end  of  six  months  Dillon 
bought  Morgan  out.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  small 
buildings,  the  village  took  a  rest  for  a  few  years.  On  the 
prospective  completion  of  the  railroad,  a  new  life  was  in- 
fused into  the  almost  defunct  village,  and  a  number  of 
dwellings  and  business  houses  were  built.  Nat  Beardsley, 
from  Jerseyville,  opened  up  a  stock  of  merchandise  in  1862 


3io  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTA 

and  1863,  and  after  operating  it  for  two  years  sold  it  to 
Dr.  Knapp  and  went  back  to  Jersey ville.  In  1865  Dr. 
Charles  D.  Knapp  built  and  opened  a  drug  store.  Hull 
and  Morrison  came  from  Henry  in  1866,  moving  into  a 
building  occupied  by  Chestnut  as  a  hardware  store.  In 
time,  others  came,  and  San  Jose  was  soon  on  a  firm  basis. 

The  first  grain  merchants  were  Beck  and  Scott,  who 
began  the  handling  of  grain  in  1866.  A  warehouse,  built 
by  Peter  Defries,  was  converted  into  an  elevator  by  Buck 
and  Brother  and  was  the  first  in  the  village.  In  1866 
Moses  C.  Hicks  built  a  steam  elevator,  which  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  in  1868.  Thomas  Little  operated  a  ware- 
house here  and  then  moved  it  to  Teheran.  Moses  C.  Hicks 
erected  a  large  and  commodious  hotel  at  a  cost  of  $6,000; 
at  one  time  he  had  forty-two  regular  boarders,  besides  the 
transient  customers.  In  the  same  year,  C.  B.  Vanhorn 
moved  the  machinery  of  the  grist  mill  from  Atlanta  and 
began  to  manufacture  flour. 

Allen's  Grove  lies  high  and  dry.  Towards  the  west, 
for  twenty  miles,  the  land  was  once  a  swamp  and  was  not 
considered  of  much  value.  To  the  south  of  the  Grove,  high 
land  is  soon  struck.  On  the  north  the  swamp  extended 
for  ten  miles,  but  with  artificial  drainage  the  whole  country 
has  been  changed  and  no  finer  body  of  land  is  to  be  found. 
The  Linewebber  ditch  drains  the  water  from  the  swamp 
ground  and  the  country  has  become  a  paradise  for  the 
farmer.  The  country  north  of  Allen's  Grove  is  a  high 
ridge  where  you  can  have  a  view  for  fifteen  miles  west. 
Allen's  Grove  is  nearly  twenty  miles  from  Forest  City,  yet 
it  is  in  plain  view  and  would  not  be  taken  to  be  more  than 
ten  miles.  One-half  of  San  Jose  is  in  Mason  county,  the 
other  half  in  Logan  county.  At  San  Jose  three  counties 
can  be  seen  at  one  glance,  namely,  Mason,  Logan  and  Taze- 
well. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


PENNSYLVANIA  TOWNSHIP 

ENNSYLVANIA  township  is  in  Township  21, 
Range  6,  west  of  the  Third  Principal  Meridan, 
and  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  Forest  City  and 
Manito  townships,  east,  south  and  west  by 
Allen's  Grove,  Mason  City  and  Sherman  townships.  It 
contains  thirty-six  full  townships  and  is  all  prairie,  except 
Red  Oak  Grove.  Teheran  is  the  only  village  in  the  town- 
ship. Ambrose  Edwards  was  the  first  settler  and  made 
an  improvement  in  Red  Oak  Grove. 

Francis  Dorrell  came  to  the  state  in  1835  and  came  from 
Sangamon  county  in  1839.  He  made  the  second  improve- 
ment in  the  township.  When  he  settled,  there  was  not  a 
human  habitation  visible  on  the  north,  east  or  west. 
Stretching  away  to  the  north,  at  sunset,  the  village  of  Dela- 
van  was  sometimes  visible  twenty-five  miles  away.  About 
the  same  date  William  Briggs  settled  near  where  the  village 
of  Teheran  stands. 

Peter  Speice  came  from  Ohio  in  early  1850.  His  father-- 
in-law, George  Swaggert,  followed.  They  both  settled 
two  miles  north  of  Leases  Grove,  but  after  a  few  years 
moved  to  Tazewell  county.  A  year  or  so  after  there  was  a 
large  influx  of  population. 

In  the  fall  of  1838,  Henry  Cease  came  from  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  stopped  a  short  time  in  Havana,  but  soon  bought 
a  farm  and  engaged  in  farming.  During  the  summer  of 
1851,  Joseph  and  Abraham  Cease,  Jimerson  Wandel,  John 


312  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

W.  Pugh  and  Benedict  Hadsell  all  came  from  the  same 
section  of  the  country.  The  Ceases  all  had  families,  while 
Wandel,  Pugh  and  Hadsell  were  single  men. 

In  December,  1851,  Henry  Cease,  J.  H.  Wandel  and 
Abraham  Cease  went  east  to  explore  the  country.  On 
reaching  what  is  now  Pennsylvania,  they  determined  to 
locate  and  began  making  farms.  They  entered  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  apiece  and  pre-empted  the  same  amount. 

In  the  summer  of  1852,  Abraham  and  Joseph  Cease 
each  built  a  frame  house  and  began  to  improve  their  land. 
In  April,  John  W.  Pugh  went  back  to  Ohio,  and  prevailed 
upon  Wandel  to  accompany  him.  When  Wandel  got  back, 
he  found  a  sale  at  his  uncle's  and  father-in-law's.  They 
were  preparing  to  move  to  Mason  county,  attracted  by 
the  glowing  accounts  that  Wandel  had  written  about  Mason 
county.  After  a  short  sojourn  among  his  native  hills,  in 
company  with  James  Wandel,  his  father;  Isaac  Hanney- 
hill,  a  brother-in-law,  and  George  Wandel,  an  uncle,  and 
their  families,  they  turned  their  faces  westward.  They 
made  the  journey  by  water  and  were  seven  weeks  coming 
from  Pittsburg  to  Havana.  In  severing  the  ties  that  bound 
them  to  their  native  land,  they  went  forth  to  battle  with 
the  difficulties  and  privations  incident  to  pioneer  life,  with 
their  hopes  and  expectations  bright  as  to  the  new  homeo 
they  were  about  to  make,  but  a  great  grief  came  over  them. 
Mrs.  Hanneyhill,  who  had  sickened  on  the  way,  died  when 
they  reached  Havana.  Heart  broken  and  discouraged,  and 
with  five  small  children,  Mr.  Hanneyhill,  with  J.  H.  Wan 
del,  retraced  their  steps  back  to  Pennsylvania  for  a  time. 
Wandel  seemed  to  belong  to  the  floating  population.  Dur- 
ing his  stay  in  Pennsylvania,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  E. 
Depugh. 

In  the  fall  of  1852,  with  his  father-in-law,  Aaron  De- 
pugh, he  again  came  to  Mason  county.  In  the  summer  of 
1853  ne  built  a  house  and  broke  forty  acres  of  land.  The 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  313 

others  mentioned  settled  in  the  eastern  portions  of  the 
county.  Philip  Cease  came  in  1852  and  settled  south  of 
Wandel.  George  Wandel  purchased  an  improved  farm 
near  where  the  village  of  Teheran  now  stands.  This  was 
the  farm  owned  and  occupied  by  William  Briggs.  James 
Wandel  entered  and  improved  a  farm  in  Section  27.  The 
Depugh  family  settled  across  the  line  in  Salt  Creek  town- 
ship. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1853,  the  follo\ying 
settlers  were  added :  George  and  Alexander  Benscoter, 
William  Legg,  Asa  Greigory  and  Joe  Statler.  The  Bens- 
coters  and  Greigorys  were  from  Pennsylvania,  Statler  from 
Ohio,  and  Legg  from  Indiana.  Legg  entered  the  land 
pre-empted  by  J.  H.  Wandel.  The  summer  following  he 
sold  out  to  George  W.  and  Alex  Benscoter.  Asa  Greigory 
settled  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  township,  remained 
a  few  years  and  then  sold  out  and  returned  east.  Joseph 
Statler  settled  in  the  south  part,  a  short  distance  north  of 
the  present  village  of  Teheran,  on  land  now  owned  by  J. 
McClurg  and  J.  H.  Matthews.  Statler  was  a  fine  business 
man  and  of  strict  integrity  and  his  duties  were  well  and 
ably  performed.  D.  V.  Benscoter  located  east  of  Statlers. 
Jack  Conroy  from  Ohio  made  improvements  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1854,  in  the  southeast  corner  of  the  School  Section 
where  James  Hurley  now  lives. 

About  the  same  time  Daniel  and  James  Riner  and  Dave 
Cruise  became  citizens  of  the  township.  In  1856,  J.  Phink 
from  Pennsylvania  made  a  farm  in  the  south  part  of  the 
township  and  was  soon  followed  by  his  father-in-law,  Jacob 
Benscoter.  Many  of  the  first  settlers  have  gone  to  their 
long  homes,  but  many  of  their  descendants  remain  and  oc- 
cupy the  farms  entered  and  improved  by  their  fathers. 

Of  other  citizens  who  moved  into  the  township  prior  to 
1860,  we  find  the  names  of  Andy  Farror  A.  J.  Gates  Alex. 
Blunt,  Charles  Hadsell,  J.  L.  Ingersoll,  T.  L.  Kendle,  Joel 


314  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Severns,  W.  K.  Terrill  and  John  Van  Horn.  Gates  was 
from  Tennessee  and  Blunt  from  Kentucky,  Hadsell,  Severns 
and  Van  Horn  from  Pennsylvania,  Ingersoll  from  Ohio, 
Kendle  and  Terrill  from  New  Jersey.  Ingersoll  settled  in 
the  northwestern  part  of  the  township  and  the  remainder  in 
the  eastern  and  central  part  of  the  township;  Terrill  in  the 
southwestern  part. 

John  W.  Pugh,  who  was  prominently  identified  with 
the  interest  of  the  township,  deserves  more  than  a  passing 
notice.  He  is  mentioned  as  coming  to  the  county  in  1850. 
He  did  not  locate  in  Pennsylvania  township  till  1864.  Since 
that  time  he  has  served  in  the  capacity  of  supervisor  for 
eleven  years.  In  1874,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature, and  here  his  influence  was  felt. 

The  earliest  settlers  were  not  wholly  exempt  from  the 
inconveniences  and  difficulties  which  ever  attend  the  pioneers 
of  a  new  country.  The  Iron  Horse  had  not  then  entered 
Mason  City.  Havana  was  the  only  point  of  shipment  and 
sale  of  the  extra  produce,  and  a  large  part  of  the  year  an 
impassible  swamp  lay  between  them  and  it,  and  in  order  for 
them  to  get  their  grain  to  market,  it  was  sometimes  neces- 
sary to  reload  it  five  or  six  times.  So  accustomed  were 
the  teams  to  miring  that  as  soon  as  a  halt  w7as  made  they 
would  lie  down  for  fear  of  finding  the  bottom  some  dis- 
tance below  the  surface  if  they  remained  standing. 

Much  of  the  early  settler's  time  was  consumed  in  mar- 
keting his  produce,  and  crossing  the  swamp  successfully 
with  a  good  load  could  only  be  accomplished  in  the  winter. 
Those  coming  in  since  the  era  of  railroads  know  but  little 
by  experience  of  the  trials  that  the  settler  of  1849  and  the 
early  "fifties"  endured.  Their  milling  was  done  at  Mack- 
inaw and  later  years  at  Simmond's  and  McHarry's  on 
Quiver.  The  nearest  postoffice  was  at  Havana,  some  fifteen 
or  eighteen  miles.  The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  in  Penn- 
sylvania Lane  in  1854.  Miss  Martha  Ranclle  was  the  first 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  315 

teacher.  The  early  ministers  were  Rev.  Mowry,  Randall 
and  Sloan.  They  belonged  to  the  M.  E.  Church.  The 
early  meetings  were  held  in  schoolhouses.  After  a  few 
years,  through  deaths  and  removals,  the  society  became 
so  reduced  in  numbers  that  the  field  was  abandoned  till 
1873,  when  the  Presbyterians  organized  a  society  and 
erected  a  church  building.  Rev.  S.  J.  Bogle  was  the  first 
pastor  and  gave  his  services  to  the  church  the  first  year 
free  of  charge.  The  early  members  of  the  church  were 
John  Van  Horn  and  \\ife  and  daughter,  Mrs.  Carem,  John 
W.  Pugh  and  wife  and  Mrs.  Mary  Potoff.  A  few  mem 
bers  of  the  Baptist  Church  resided  in  the  vicinity,  and  the 
sheep  were  led  occasionally  by  the  Rev.  Hobbs,  of  Mason 
City.  Dr.  J.  B.  Walker  of  Mason  City  dispensed  the  healing 
art.  The  first  death  was  that  of  Mrs.  James  Wandel,  who 
died  in  1854.  The  wife  of  Joseph  Cease  died  a  few  months 
later.  The  first  marriage  was  Jimerson  Wandel  and  Miss 
Sarah  Depugh  in  the  fall  of  1852. 

The  first  birth  cannot  be  ascertained.  Jimerson  Wandel 
was  the  first  justice  of  the  peace.  Pennsylvania  has  always 
been  democratic.  Taken  as  a  whole,  it  is  an  average  town- 
ship and  a  good  agricultural  township. 

Teheran  is  the  only  village  in  Pennsylvania  township, 
and  is  seven  miles  west  of  Mason  City.  It  was  laid  out  on 
land  belonging  to  Aleck  Blunt.  Soon  after  it  was  laid  out. 
A.  J.  Gates  put  up  a  building  and  opened  up  a  grocery  store. 
D.  L.  Whitney  was  a  merchant  once  and  David  Everett  was 
also  a  merchant.  The  postoffice  was  established  in  1874, 
with  W.  T.  Rich  as  postmaster.  The  amount  of  grain 
handled  in  Teheran  exceeds  100,000  bushels.  Teheran  is 
in  the  heart  of  a  good  agricultural  county,  and  has  its  daily 
mail  and  the  conveniences  of  the  larger  towns,  but  Easton 
on  the  west  and  Mason  City  on  the  east  act  as  checks  to  its 
growth. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


SHERMAN  TOWNSHIP 

HIS  township  was  organized  in  1866.  It  was 
first  named  Jackson  township,  but  the  name  of 
General  Sherman  was  then  at  its  zenith.  Sher- 
man had,  only  a  few  years  before,  made  his 
memorable  march  to  the  sea  and  had  endeared  his  name  to 
every  American  patriot.  So  at  the  meeting  in  1867  the 
name  of  Jackson  was  stricken  out  and  the  name  of  Sherman 
substituted. 

Sherman  contains  thirty-six  sections  which  makes  a 
square  congressional  township.  Only  two  small  bodies  of 
timber  are  in  the  township.  Crane  Marsh  and  Bulls  Eye. 
A  county  ditch  was  the  first  effort  to  drain  the  land  embraced 
in  the  scope  of  the  township. 

The  boundaries  of  Sherman  are  as  follows :  It  was 
south  of  Quiver  and  Forest  City,  west  of  Pennsylvania 
north  of  Crane  Creek  and  east  of  Havana  township. 

As  an  agricultural  township  it  did  not  rank  very  high 
till  in  later  years.  Artificial  drainage  has  reclaimed  a  large 
part  of  the  land.  Fully  three-fourths  of  the  territory  be- 
longed to  a  class  known  as  swamp  land. 

The  first  improvement  in  what  is  now  Sherman  was  made 
by  Thomas  K.  Faulkner.  He  was  originally  from  New 
York  and  had  settled  in  Dearborn  county  in  1815.  In 
1830  Thomas,  then  a  married  man,  moved  to  Madison 
county,  and  settled  on  the  bank  of  the  White  river.  In 
1838  he  moved  to  Tazewell,  now  Mason  county.  He  built 
a  log  cabin  and  began  to  open  up  a  farm.  After  a  residence 
of  ten  years  he  moved  to  Salt  Creek  where  he  died. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  317 

In  the  summer  of  1839  Mahalon  Hibbs  and  his  sons, 
William  and  Eli,  together  with  his  son-in-law,  John  Hamp- 
ton, came  from  Pennsylvania  and  settled  in  the  same  sec- 
tion. Mahalon  Hibbs  made  an  improvement  and  died  in 
the  fall.  William  Hibbs  entered  land  and  improved  it  and, 
after  living  on  it  for  six  years,  traded  it  for  land  in  Sanga- 
mon  county.  John  Hampton  located  west  of  his  father-in- 
law,  and  then  moved  to  Shelby  county. 

Mrs.  Catherine  Dentler  and  family  came  from  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  settled  south  of  those  named.  She  moved  to 
Nebraska  and  died  there  in  1878.  Sol  Dentler,  a  nephew, 
came  with  the  family  and  entered  land  but  did  not  improve 
it.  In  the  fall  of  1839  he  traded  his  land  to  Henry  Cease. 

The  citizens  mentioned  composed  the  settlers  in  this 
locality,  prior  to  1844.  West  of  these  and  towards  Havana 
seven  or  eight  families  settled  along  the  borders  of  the 
woods.  There  were,  Coder,  McReynolds,  Faulkner,  Eli 
Fisk,  Brown,  Fester,  and  a  few  others.  This  made  all  the 
families  east  of  Havana.  Nearly  all  of  the  land  was  un- 
broken prairie,  where  roamed  at  pleasure  vast  herds  of  deer 
and  wolves.  John  R.  Faulkner  relates  that  in  the  spring  of 
1840,  he,  with  two  others,  counted  on  Bull's  Eye  prairie 
fifty-nine  in  one  gang  and  forty-two  in  another,  all  in  sight 
at  one  time. 

James  H.  Chase  was  next  in  order.  He  came  to  Mason 
county  in  1844  where  he  made  improvements  and  lived  tili 
his  death.  Joseph  Lehr  settled  in  the  northwest  part  of  the 
township.  He  bought  two  acres  of  land  from  William 
Hibbs  for  a  location.  He  made  a  claim  and  improved  it, 
and  lived  there  till  his  death.  Lehr  was  from  Ohio.  Among 
the  settlers  in  1848,  we  find  the  names  of  Henry  Cease,  John 
Blakely,  William  and  John  Alexander,  and  Charles  Trotter. 
Cease  was  from  Pennsylvania,  and  a  large  number  from  the 
same  locality  settled  in  Pennsylvania  township.  He  pur- 
chased the  improvements  of  Thomas  K.  Faulkner  and  then 


318  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

moved  farther  east  on  the  Kellerman  land.     Blakely  and  the 
Alexanders  were  from  Ohio  and  settled  farther  east.  Blake- 
ly continued  a  citizen  till  his  death.     The  Alexanders  first 
settled  in  Havana  township  but  moved  to  Sherman.     Wil- 
liam located  on  the  edge  of  Crane  Creek  timber,  then  went 
to   Missouri,    and   John   sold   out   and   returned   to   Ohio. 
Charles  Trotter  was  an  Englishman  and  came  from  Massa- 
chusetts.    Peter   Morganstein   remained   but   a    few   years 
and  then  moved  to   Beardstown,   where  he  died.     About 
this  time  Mrs.  Davenport  and  family,  consisting  of  five  sons, 
Henry,  Lewis,  William,  Joseph  and  Marshall,  settled  in  the 
southeastern  part  of  the  township  near  the  present  town  of 
Easton.     Her  husband,  Marshall  B.  Davenport,  came  from 
Kentucky  in  1832  and  died  in  Salt  Creek  township  in  1840. 
Passing  down  to  1850  we  find  Samuel  Adkins,  Granville 
Cheney,  Vincent  Singleton  and  Alexander  Haller.     These 
all  settled  on  what  is  known  as  Bull's  Eye  prairie.     Adkins 
and  Haller  were  from  Tennessee,  Cheney  was  from  Ken- 
tucky.    Adkins  settled  in  the  northwest  corner  of  Bull's 
Eye  and  sold  out  to  Henry  Cease  who,  after  living  here  for 
several  years,  went  to  Kansas.     Cheney  moved  to  Dewritt 
county,    where   he   lost   his   wife   by   accident.     Singleton 
moved  to  Salt  Creek.     Haller  moved  to  Havana.     William 
G.  Stone  was  a  citizen  as  late  as  1850;  he  came  from  Ten- 
nessee to  Mason  county.     Amos  Heater  still  lives  in  Sher- 
man township.     Spellman  only  lived  a  couple  of  weeks  after 
he  built  his  house.     H.  Elderbush  settled  on  the  edge  of 
Crane  Creek  marsh.     In  about   1852  James  M.   Samuels, 
a  prominent  citizen,  settled  where  the  village  of  Easton  now 
stands.     The  family  of  the  Samuels  were  originally  from 
old  Virginia  and  all  have  the  Southern  brogue  in  their  talk. 
In  the  spring  of  1835,  ms  father,  Andrew  Samuels,  came 
to  Illinois  and  settled  in  Morgan  county. 

When  J.  M.  Samuels  first  settled  in  Sherman  township, 
there  was  no  one  living  east  of  him  in  the  township  and, 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  319 

with  the  exception  of  Mrs.  Davenport  there  was  no  one  on 
the  south,  before  reaching  the  settlers  on  Crane  Creek.  He 
was  the  original  owner  of  Easton.  The  Kislers  and  their 
families  came  from  Pennsylvania,  and  first  stopped  in  Ha- 
vana. 

What  Chicago  is  to  the  west  so  Havana  was  to  the 
early  settlers  of  Mason  county.  It  was  the  point  to  which 
all  their  produce  must  be  brought  for  sale,  and  was  the 
place  where  they  obtained  their  dry  goods  and  groceries. 
Hogs  were  driven  to  Beardstown  and  there  slaughtered  and 
sold  to  packers.  My  father  used  to  go  there  through  he 
winter  and  run  his  cooper  shop.  It  was  thirty-five  miles 
from  Salem,  which  he  always  made  in  a  day  on  foot,  as  he 
always  walked.  In  regard  to  milling,  meal  was  ground  at 
Mount's  mill  on  Crane  Creek  but  when  flour  was  wanted 
they  had  to  go  to  Woorow's  or  Kinman's  mill  in  Mackinaw 
or  to  Wentworth  mill  on  Otter  Creek  in  Fulton  county,  but 
they  generally  went  to  Mackinaw,  as  the  price  of  the  ferriage 
across  the  Illinois  was  eighty-seven  and  one-half  cents  and 
money  was  very  scarce  in  those  days  and  several  days  were 
sometimes  consumed  in  making  the  trip  as  they  always 
waited  for  their  grist.  In  a  later  period  when  Simmond's 
and  McHarry's  mills  were  built,  it  brought  the  mills  almost 
at  their  doors.  The  early  settlers  scarcely  ever  thought 
that  such  a  convenience  would  occur  in  their  generation. 
The  mail  matter  was  received  at  Havana  and  on  public  days 
was  carried  around  on  Dearborn's  hat.  Martin  'Scott 
erected  the  first  blacksmith  shop  in  1844.  This  was  across 
the  line  in  Havana  township.  Eli  Hibbs  built  the  first  shop 
in  the  township  in  1848. 

Mrs.  Eliza  Dentler  was  the  first  school  teacher  who 
"taught  the  young  idea  how  to  shoot."  The  school  was 
kept  at  the  house  of  her  mother.  The  first  schoolhouse  was 
supposed  to  be  on  the  land  of  James  H.  Chase.  Abe  Miller- 
son  was  the  first  teacher.  The  circuit  rider  came  early  and 
Michael  Shunk  was  perhaps  the  first.  Rev.  Moreland  and 


320  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Hardin  Wallace  soon  shied  their  hats  in  the  ring.  Most 
of  the  early  settlers  remember  Hardin  Wallace,  a  small, 
spare  man  full  of  wit  and  eccentricities  who  preached  in 
every  schoolhouse  in  Mason  county.  He  went  to  Califor- 
nia in  the  "seventies"  and  died  while  there.  The  first  doctor 
was  William  Coder,  who  also  ws  a  preacher  and  healed  the 
souls  as  well  as  the  bodies  of  men.  Doctor  Allen  was  also 
here  at  an  early  date.  Elizabeth  Hampton  and  Mahalon 
Hibbs  were  among  the  first  births  in  the  township.  The 
first  death  to  occur  was  that  of  the  wife  of  Thomas  K. 
Faulkner,  who  died  in  1839.  She  was  buried  on  the  farm 
of  Robert  McReynolds.  The  first  person  buried  in  this 
cemetery  was  Grandma  Fesler  in  1838.  The  first  wedding 
was  either  John  McReynolds  and  Catherine  Dentler  or  Al- 
fred Houel  and  Eliza  Faulkner,  but  which  was  first,  no  one 
at  present  seems  to  know.  The  patriotism  of  Sherman  was 
very  creditable  and  no  draft  was  necessary  to  fill  her  quota 
in  the  last  unpleasantness.  M.  H.  Lewis  was  the  first  super- 
visor. Easton  is  half  way  between  Havana  and  Mason 
City.  The  town  was  surveyed  by  John  R.  Faulkner  for 
J.  M.  Samuels  in  1872.  Edward  D.  Terrill  built  the  first 
store  building  in  November,  1872,  and  opened  up  with  a 
general  stock  of  merchandise.  Diebold  F.  Turner  opened 
up  a  saloon  and  then  engaged  afterward  in  general  mer- 
chandise. Henry  Cooper  built  the  first  residence.  It  was 
finally  turned  into  a  hotel  and  operated  by  Charles  Dowell. 
A  drug  store  was  built  by  David  Carter,  but  soon  developed 
into  a  saloon.  J.  M.  Samuels  built  the  first  blacksmith  shop. 
A  fine  schoolhouse  was  erected  and  a  union  church  built. 
Ed.  Merrill  was  the  first  postmaster.  C.  W.  Houghton  was 
the  first  doctor  to  locate.  He  took  in  as  a  partner  D.  L.  T. 
Magill.  Easton  was  laid  out  as  Shermanville  but,  as  a 
postoffice  by  that  name  was  in  Sangamon  county,  it  had  to 
be  changed  and  was  named  by  O.  C.  Easton  of  Havana. 
Situated  as  it  is  on  one  of  the  finest  agricultural  districts  in 
the  county,  it  is  one  of  the  important  towns  in  the  county. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

MASON  CITY  TOWNSHIP 

ASON  CITY  township  is  bounded  on  the  north  by 
Allen's  Grove  and  Pennsylvania  township,  on 
the  east  by  Logan  county,  on  the  south  by  Salt 
Creek,  on  the  west  by  Salt  Creek  township.  It 
is  the  best  body  of  land  in  any  township  in  Mason  county, 
being  all  tillable  high  prairie.  It  was  surveyed  in  1823; 
at  that  time  there  was  not  a  person  living  within  its  bounds, 
and  nothing  was  heard  save  the  yell  of  the  Indian  or  the 
howl  of  the  wolf  from  the  time  when  the  memory  of  man 
runneth  not  to  the  contrary.  Along  the  belt  on  Salt  Creek 
was  the  camping  ground  of  the  red  man.  Mason  City 
township  was  covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  blue  stem 
grass,  and  the  prairie  fires  every  fall  swept  over  its  whole 
territory,  leaving  a  black  dismal  spectacle.  No  person 
who  never  saw  these  prairie  fires  can  imagine  the  grandeur 
of  the  scene.  Imagine  a  wall  of  fire  fifty  feet  in  height 
and  as  wide  as  the  eye  can  extend  coming  toward  you  at 
the  rate  of  twenty  miles  an  hour;  all  the  wild  animals  and 
birds  fleeing  for  life  before  it ;  the  heavens  lighted  up  with 
an  unearthly  glare  and  the  roar  of  the  flames  drowning 
out  every  noise.  Sometimes  the  flames  would  jump  a 
hundred  feet  in  advance,  and  set  the  grass  on  fire  ahead. 
These  fires  gained  strength  as  they  burned  and  a  current 
of  air  would  give  them  a  new  impetus,  and  they  never 
stopped  till  they  had  burned  out  for  want  of  something 


21 


322  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

to  consume.  We  have  seen  these  fires  burn  from  Lease's 
Grove  to  Quiver,  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles. 

Mason  City  was  a  great  shipping  point,  but  the  Illinois 
Central,  running  from  Havana  to  Champaign,  with  Easton 
and  Teheran  on  the  west  and  New  Holland  on  the  east,  cut 
off  a  big  slice  of  her  grain  receipts,  and  Mason  City  is  not 
what  it  used  to  be,  yet  it  is  a  nice  clean  town,  and  may  well 
be  styled  the  Gem  of  the  Prairie. 

The  first  settlement  in  the  township  was  made  by  Isaac 
Engle  in  1830  on  the  Donovan  place,  at  the  northeast  side 
of  Swing's  Grove.  In  the  same  year  John  Powell  built  a 
round  log  house  on  the  west  side,  now  owned  and  occu- 
pied by  C.  L.  Stone.  This  was  succeeded  by  a  hewn  log 
house  built  by  Austin  Melton.  Here  Melton  lived  till  1849, 
and  kept  a  ferry  across  Salt  Creek,  and  for  him  Melton's 
Ford  was  named.  He  then  moved  to  Mackinaw,  then  to 
Walker's  Grove,  where  he  died  in  1877.  Melton's  place 
was  taken  by  John  Alkers,  who  built  a  frame  house. 

Isaac  Engle,  who  settled  on  the  Donovan  place,  sold  to 
Michael  and  Abraham  Swing  and  moved  to  Fulton  county. 
The  Swing  brothers  were  both  unmarried  at  the  time,  and 
by  a  trade,  Michael  became  the  sole  owner  of  the  land  which 
up  to  1840  had  been  held  in  partnership.  Mr.  Swing  was 
a  surveyor  and  also  taught  school  in  addition  to  his  other 
business  in  1851  and  '52.  He  taught  school  at  Big  Grove, 
riding  six  miles  each  way,  and  received  for  his  service  one 
dollar  per  day.  In  the  year  of  1840  Ephraim  Brooner  built 
a  round  log  house  on  what  is  now  the  Cease  and  Hubly 
place,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west  of  the  old  Beebe  place, 
now  owned  by  John  Appleman.  Mr.  Brooner  died  in  1841, 
and  his  widow  married  Rezin  Virgin,  one  of  the  pioneers 
of  Salt  Creek  township,  as  will  appear  farther  on.  In  1840 
the  tide  of  emigration  set  in  and  Robert  Melton  and  D.  S. 
Swing,  of  Swing's  Grove  and  Stiles,  and  Homer  Peck,  of 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  323 

Prairie  Creek,  settled  in  the  township  that  year.  D.  S. 
Swing,  since  1860,  has  been  a  resident  of  Mason  City 
and  improved  the  land  now  occupied  by  C.  L.  Stone.  A 
beautiful  cemetery  in  Swing's  Grove  was  set  apart  by  them 
and  has  had  a  steady  growth,  till  it  now  numbers  its  in- 
habitants by  the  hundreds.  Other  grave  yards  were  located 
in  the  neighborhood,  but  after  the  Swing  Cemetery  was 
established  they  were  discontinued.  Stiles  and  Homer  Peck 
made  a  settlement  on  Prairie  Creek  near  where  New  Holland 
now  stands. 

The  dwelling  houses  in  the  early  days,  of  which  we  will 
give  a  description,  were  eighteen  by  twenty,  made  of  round 
logs,  notched  at  the  corners  so  as  to  make  the  logs  fit  as 
closely  as  possible  and  give  as  much  strength  as  possible. 
Chimneys  were  constructed  of  split  sticks  and  clay,  which 
were  always  at  the  west  end  of  the  house,  so  that  the  west 
winds  would  be  better  resisted.  These  houses  always  had  a 
kitchen,  sitting-room,  parlor  and  bed-room,  but  all  in  one. 
At  meal  time,  it  was  all  kitchen.  On  rainy  days  when  all 
the  neighbors  came  there  to  relate  their  exploits,  how  many 
deer  and  turkeys  they  had  killed,  it  was  the  sitting-room. 
On  Sunday  when  the  young  men  all  dressed  up  in  their 
jeans,  and  the  young  ladies  in  their  best  tow  dresses,  it  was 
all  parlor.  At  night  is  was  all  bed-room.  The  crevices  be- 
tween the  logs  afforded  ample  ventilation.  An  accident  is 
recorded  where  a  family  went  off  one  Sunday  and  the  cattle 
came  around  the  house,  and  with  their  long  tongues  licked 
out  the  bed  clothing  and,  in  fact,  everything  out  of  the 
house,  so  when  the  family  returned  they  found  everything 
gone.  The  houses  were  covered  with  clapboards,  held  to 
their  places  by  rib  poles  underneath  and  weight  poles  on 
top.  The  floors  were  made  of  puncheons  four  inches  in 
thickness  and  six  feet  along  the  sides,  and  they  were  hewn 
so  they  fit  nicely  and  kept  the  foot  from  going  down  between 
the  puncheons. 


324  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

There  has  been  a  number  of  tragedies  in  Mason  City.  In 
the  fall  of  1864,  Frank  M.  Jones,  who  had  come  from 
Virginia  a  few  years  before,  and  who  was  very  outspoken 
in  his  views,  had  incurred  the  hostility  of  some  who  were 
of  the  opposite  belief,  and  this  soon  ripened  into  a  crisis. 
Jones  was  at  that  time  teaching  school  a  short  distance 
from  town.  Learning  that  a  man  from  Salt  Creek,  named 
Moses  Thompson,  had  been  in  town  several  days  to  settle 
a  grudge  that  had  been  sprung  on  election  day,  about  a  week 
before,  armed  himself  with  a  double  barrel  shot  gun.  In 
the  evening  after  school  was  dismissed,  he  proceeded  to 
town  where  he  saw  Thompson  on  the  south  side  of  a  saloon, 
which  was  kept  in  a  building  a  short  distance  from  the  ele- 
vator, and  heard  his  threats  against  him.  He  then  passed 
through  Swing's  store  and  fired  upon  him,  mortally  wound- 
ing him,  so  he  died  the  next  day.  Jones  then  leisurely 
walked  away  and  was  never  captured  or  brought  to  trial.  It 
is  reported  that  he  went  to  Missouri,  and  was  afterwards 
himself  shot  and  killed. 

The  next  was  the  tragic  death  of  Dr.  Chamlin  in  the 
spring  of  1871,  at  the  hands  of  Zoph  Case.  The  fracas 
grew  out  of  a  contest  of  title  to  a  quarter  section  of  land 
adjoining  town  on  the  southeast.  One  night  Case  moved 
his  house  on  one  forty  acres  and  occupied  it  that  same  night, 
claiming  title  from  Tunison  Case,  which  brought  about  an 
ejectment  suit.  In  plowing  in  the  spring  of  1871,  Chamlin 
ordered  his  men  to  plow  across  Case's  yard  in  the  forenoon. 
This  Case  would  not  allow  them  to  do.  The  matter  was  re- 
ported Chamlin  at  noon,  and  when  they  went  out  to  work 
in  the  afternoon,  he  took  a  shot  gun  and  bade  his  plowmen 
to  follow  him,  which  they  did.  He  had  proceeded  but  a 
short  distance  in  advance  of  the  teams  toward  Case's  prem- 
ises when  he  reached  the  disputed  line.  Case,  who  was 
watching  him  from  his  door,  took  up  his  gun  and  fired 
upon  him,  killing  him  instantly.  Case  surrendered  and 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  325 

after  a  continuous  drag  in  the  courts  was  finally  cleared. 
In  the  spring  of  1837,  Charles  H.. Linticum,  who  was  a 
farmer  near  Prairie  Creek,  committed  a  deadly  assault  upon 
Joseph  Copperthwait,  a  farmer,  they  having  met  in  town. 
The  tragedy  occurred  in  J.  D.  Haws'  harness  shop.  The 
assault  was  made  with  a  revolver,  Linticum  shooting  three 
times,  the  last  shot  taking  effect  in  the  side,  glancing  off 
on  a  rib.  Great  excitement  prevailed  and  lynching  was 
talked  of,  but  the  injured  party  proved  to  be  not  dangerously 
wounded.  Linticum  engaged  Colonel  Ingersol  and,  after 
dragging  through  several  courts,  the  indictment  was 
quashed. 

The  land  on  which  Mason  City  stands  was  entered  in 
1849  by  William  Maloney,  who  improved  and  settled  on  a 
forty-acre  tract  adjoining  the  corporation  line  on  the  north- 
west. He  built  a  cabin  thereon.  He  protected  his  crop  from 
stock  by  making  a  sod  fence  around  it.  These  fences  were 
very  common  in  pioneer  days.  They  were  made  by  a  ditch 
three  feet  deep  and  three  feet  wide  at  the  top  and  one  foot  at 
the  bottom.  The  sod  was  carefully  cut  off  in  squares  and 
built  up  back  from  the  ditch  three  feet  high,  and  the  dirt 
from  the  ditch  thrown  back  of  the  sod.  This  made  a  fence 
that  kept  most  of  the  cattle  out  of  the  crop.  George  Straut, 
before  the  railroad  was  located,  bought  Maloney  out,  with  a 
view  of  locating  a  station  there.  Straut  was  a  member  of 
the  board  of  directors  and  had  influence  with  the  company. 
The  original  plat  of  the  town  contained  two  hundred  and 
forty  acres,  three- fourths  of  a  mile  from  north  to  south 
and  one-half  mile  from  east  to  west.  The  survey  was  made 
in  September,  1857,  by  E.  G.  Hunt  and  J.  M.  Sweney. 
There  has  been  a  number  of  additions  made  to  the  original 
town  from  time  to  time,  till  Mason  City  now  spreads  over 
a  large  territory.  These  additions  were  offered  for  sale 
and  found  buyers.  There  was  a  public  sale  of  lots  in  Sep- 
tember, which  continued  for  several  days.  There  were  a 


326  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

large  number  of  buyers,  the  number  of  people  exceeding 
one  thousands  persons  at  times.  The  people  were  surprised 
at  a  town  so  far  from  any  place.  Notwithstanding,  lots 
sold  for  from  seventy-five  dollars  to  three  hundred  dollars, 
according  to  location.  The  first  building  in  the  town  was  a 
blacksmith  shop,  put  up  by  David  Dare  in  the  east  part  of 
town.  The  next  was  a  frame  building  put  up  by  Henry 
Keefer  for  mercantile  purposes.  A.  A.  Cargill  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster  by  James  Buchanan.  In  the  upper  story 
Miss  Rhoda  Allen  taught  the  first  public  school.  The  first 
newspaper  was  established  by  J.  M.  Haughy.  The  first 
religious  service  was  held  by  Rev.  Holtsclaw.  The  second 
store  was  that  of  C.  Home.  The  Presbyterian  Church  was 
organized  in  1858,  in  the  upper  story  of  the  building  erected 
by  Joseph  Elliott.  The  third  store  was  that  of  Abram  and 
S.  D.  Swing.  The  first  hotel  was  a  small  frame,  built  by 
William  Hibbard,  on  a  lot  donated  by  Mr.  Straut.  It  was 
dedicated  with  a  dance.  Up  to  1860  all  the  merchandise, 
all  lumber  and  every  other  commodity  was  hauled  from 
Pekin,  Havana  and  Forest  City,  which  was  a  profitable 
business  for  teamsters. 

The  first  wedding  of  resident  parties  was  Sheridan  En 
lass  and  Miss  Emma  Hibbard.  The  ceremony  was  per 
formed  by  Selah  Wheaton.  The  first  child  born  in  town 
was  Charles  M.  Keifer  in  December,  1857.  There  was  a 
great  Fourth  of  July  celebration  held  in  Mason  City  in 
1858.  Every  man,  woman  and  child  went  to  celebrate, 
and  it  was  a  complete  success.  At  an  early  hour  the  people 
were  all  astir  and  long  processions  of  teams  came  from 
every  direction,  and  by  10  a.  m.  an  immense  crowd  had 
gathered  from  all  directions.  A  platform  was  erected  and 
R.  A.  Hurt  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  Hon. 
William  Walker,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  Havana,  delivered 
an  oration,  after  which  all  repaired  to  the  tables,  which  were 
loaded  with  the  goodies  with  which  the  country  abounded. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  327 

The  Fourth  of  July  witnessed  the  advent  of  the  first  locomo- 
tive. This  was  hailed  with  great  delight  and  wound  up  with 
a  free  fight  between  the  railroad  hands  and  the  Mason  City 
town  bloods.  The  completion  of  the  railroad  set  the  whole 
county  wild,  and  all  the  mechanics  had  all  they  could  do  to 
finish  houses  fast  enough  for  the  people  to  live  in.  This 
was  at  the  close  of  the  war  and  money  was  a  great  deal 
more  plentiful  then  than  now.  All  kinds  of  produce  that 
the  farmers  had  to  sell  brought  a  good  price.  Improved  and 
unimproved  lots  commanded  a  high  price,  and  for  a  few 
years  the  growth  of  Mason  City  was  the  wonder  and  ad- 
miration of  surrounding  towns.  In  the  winter  of  1868  and 
'69  a  City  Charter  was  procured  and  the  little  town  in  the 
prairie  began  to  assume  city  airs.  An  election  was  ordered 
and  held  to  vote  upon  incorporating  under  the  general  In- 
corporating Act,  which  was  carried  by  a  large  majority. 

CITY  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS. 

Mason  City  has  reason  to  be  proud  of  her  public  schools 
for  here  her  children  are  well  provided  for.  In  1860  a 
frame  school  building  was  erected.  It  was  finally  decided 
after  a  vote,  to  build  a  $20,000  schoolhouse  in  the  west  addi- 
tion in  1877.  Further  room  was  needed  and  the  beautiful 
new  brick  was  erected  on  the  east  side. 

RELIGIOUS  SOCIETIES. 

The  Methodist  Church  has  always  been  in  the  vanguard 
of  civilization.  Before  1840,  Havana  was  the  central  point 
of  Methodism.  The  preacher  made  his  headquarters  here 
and  radiated  out  over  the  sparsley  settled  country,  always 
going  on  horseback,  with  his  saddle  bags  filled  with  some  of 
the  church  literature,  not  forgetting  the  Methodist  Almanac 
for  which  he  always  got  ten  cents  apiece,  but  now  the  patent 
medicine  man  gives  out  gratis. 


328  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

The  appointment,  which  the  Mason  City  circuit  formed, 
was  first  established  at  the  Palock  schoolhouse.  Next  in 
order  conies  the  Baptists.  It  also  had  its  origin  at  the 
Palock  schoolhouse,  but  was  bodily  transferred  to  Mason 
City  in  1859.  Elder  L.  R.  Hastings  was  the  first  resident 
minister,  having  settled  on  an  improved  farm  east  of  town 
in  1851,  and  he  organized  the  church  in  1856. 

The  Presbyterian  society  was  organized  in  1857  by  Rev. 
Templeton  and  Andrews.  John  Andrews  had  charge  till 
1867,  when  S.  J.  Bogle  assumed  the  pastoral  charge.  Serv- 
ices were  held  in  the  schoolhouse  until  the  building  of  the 
frame  church  in  1871.,  It  was  decided  to  sell  it  and  the 
present  fine  brick  church  was  completed  and  dedicated  in 
1872.  The  society  has  a  membership  of  200. 

The  Catholic  Church  was  organized  in  1872  and  pur- 
chased the  frame  church  of  the  Presbyterians.  They  have 
added  to  it,  so  it  suits  their  purposes.  Union  Chapel  was 
a  dilapidated  dwelling  in  the  southeast  part  of  the  town. 
In  the  spring  of  1876,  Ewing  Sharp  and  Dr.  Taylor  formed 
a  Mission  Sunday  school  here  for  the  special  benefit  of  the 
poor  in  the  city.  A  wonderful  interest  was  soon  aroused 
among  those,  who  by  their  poverty  considered  themselves 
shut  out  of  the  means  of  grace,  where  so  many  attend  more 
to  display  their  new  bonnets  and  silk  than  to  display  their 
piety.  The  building  was  soon  found  to  be  too  small  and  an 
old  billiard  room  was  purchased  and  moved  to  a  suitable 
place,  remodeled  and  made  comfortable.  The  first  flour 
mill  was  built  in  1868  by  Hulshizer  and  Smith,  the  first 
banker.  A.  A.  Cargill  was  the  first  merchant.  C.  Hume, 
another  pioneer,  was  in  business  in  1858,  but  for  several 
years  was  out  upon  a  farm.  Dr.  A.  R.  Cooper  was  the 
first  physician.  Travis  and  Brown  built  the  first  elevator ; 
Probst  and  Cutterell,  the  first  drug  store,  and  were  suc- 
ceeded by  Patterson  and  Conover;  they  by  J.  S.  Walker  and 
he  in  turn  by  Kincaid  &  Bradley.  The  first  newspaper  was 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  329 

the  Mason  City  News.  The  first  issue  was  on  July  4th, 
1867,  the  day  the  C.  &  A.  Railroad  entered  Mason  City. 
The  Mason  City  Journal  was  established  in  the  fall  of 
1871  by  I.  E.  Knapp,  he  having  bought  out  the  Havana 
Review.  It  was  edited  by  Cap.  Stover  when  Knapp  sold 
out  to  W.  S.  Walker.  In  1874  Walker  sold  out  to  Wells 
Corey  and  Dr.  J.  A.  Walker. 

In  1868  Campbell  &  Porter  opened  up  a  bank  in  their 
double  Mammoth  store.  Campbell  &  Porter  did  a  large 
business  for  several  years.  There  was  a  war  between  them 
and  Sharp  Brothers  and  competition  ran  so  high  that  they 
sold  plow-shoes  at  one  time  for  twenty-five  cents,  and  it  is 
even  said  that  they  gave  a  man  twenty-five  cents  to  take  a 
pair.  It  is  said  that  both  firms  were  driven  to  the  wall  by 
this  foolish  way  of  doing  business,  nor  did  their  customers 
ever  thank  them  for  selling  their  goods  so  cheap. 

We  want  to  pay  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Labe  Swing, 
the  pronounced  enemy  of  the  whiskey  traffic  in  Mason  City. 
He  took  a  decided  stand  against  the  saloon  because  it  was 
wrong  and  he  never  swerved  from  that  stand.  Though  it 
cost  him  loss  of  friends  and  loss  of  trade,  yet  he  stood 
firm  and  denounced  it.  He  was  only  in  the  advance  of  the 
age  in  which  he  lived,  and  his  name  will  live  in  coming  years 
when  the  saloonkeeper  will  be  forgotten. 

Frank  §mith  and  David  Powell  organized  a  bank.  The 
Mason  county  Soldier  Monument  stands  in  the  center  of  the 
city  park.  It  was  erected  at  the  close  of  the  war  at  the  cost 
of  $5,000.00  and  is  a  handsome  tribute  to  the  brave  boys 
who  laid  down  their  lives  for  their  country.  It  has  been 
the  unvarying  custom  for  the  people  to  decorate  the  monu- 
ment on  the  3Oth  of  May.  The  cemetery,  located  east  of 
the  city,  is  a  beautiful  city  of  the  dead.  It  is  beautifully 
laid  out  in  squares  and  many  fine  monuments  have  been 
erected  by  loving  hands. 


330 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


Mason  City  might  be  called  a  city  of  churches.  The 
tall  spires  that  reach  heavenward  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  they  were  spiritual.  Mason  City  has  two  or  three 
churches  to  one  saloon,  while  Havana  has  three  saloons  to 
one  church. 


CHAPTED  XXXV. 


KILBOURNE  TOWNSHIP 

HEN  the  first  white  people  came  to  Kilbourne 
it  was  then  a  part  of  Sangamon  county.  A  few 
years  later  it  was  in  Menard  county  and  still 
later  it  was  in  Mason.  Mrs.  Blakeley  and  Dr. 
Field,  among  the  oldest  settlers,  say  that  they  lived  in  three 
counties  without  moving  their  residence.  The  first  resident 
of  Kilbourne  township  was  Absalom  Mount.  He  was  from 
that  portion  of  Sangamon,  now  Menard,  where  he  had  built 
a  mill  on  Clary's  Creek.  He  came  here  in  1831  and  settled 
in  the  southeast  part  of  the  present  town  of  Kilbourne  and 
there  built  a  mill  on  Crane  Creek. 

The  next  settlement  was  made  by  Gibson  Garrett.  He 
is  supposed  to  have  come  from  Virginia  in  1836.  He  has 
long  been  dead. 

Jesse  Baker  came  in  1836  and  located  in  Morgan  county. 
He  came  from  Illinois  in  1816. 

John  Close  and  Charles  Sidwell  came  a  year  or  so  after 
Garrett.  Close  was  from  the  south,  probably  from  Ken- 
tucky, and  was  an  old  man.  He  died  many  years  ago.  His 
descendants  are  still  living  in  Crane  Creek  township.  Sid- 
well  came  from  New  York.  He  had  one  child,  who  married 
and  went  to  Texas. 

The  Fields  and  Blakeleys  came  in  1836.  They  are  men- 
tioned in  the  history  of  Bath  township.  Drury  S.  Field 
entered  a  large  amount  of  land.  He  built  the  third  frame 


332  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

house  in  the  county.  His  son,  Dr.  A.  E.  Field,  lived  in 
Kilbourne  at  its  formation.  James  Blakeley  came  from  New 
Jersey  and  first  settled  in  Sangamon  county,  seven  miles 
from  Springfield  and  then  crossed  the  river.  He  bought  a 
cabin,  on  which  ground  the  village  of  Kilbourne  now  stands. 
In  this  cabin  he  lived  nine  years  and  then  moved  to  Havana 
township,  where  he  died.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Aaron 
Scott. 

Thomas  Martin  and  Joel  Garrett  came  in  1837.  Martin 
was  from  Kentucky. 

Henry  Norris  came  from  Kentucky  and  pitched. his  tent 
in  the  north  part  of  the  township.  He  built  the  third  cabin 
in  the  vicinity. 

Jacob  Cross  may  be  called  an  early  settler,  but  belonged 
to  the  floating  population  and  did  not  remain  long.  He 
borrowed  a  span  of  horses,  but  neglected  to  return  them.  He 
was  followed  several  hundred  miles.  The  horses  were  re- 
covered, but  Cross  was  not  located. 

John  Young  was  from  Kentucky  and  came  in  1838.  He 
had  a  large  family.  His  sons  were  Anderson,  John,  William 
and  Mitchel.  The  elder  Young  died  in  1847. 

The  Daniels  came  in  1837  and  were  from  Virginia. 
They  consisted  of  G.  W.  Daniels  and  four  sons. 

The  Craggs  were  early  settlers,  but  lived  in  that  portion 
taken  from  Bath. 

Rev.  Elisha  Stevens  was  one  of  the  early  preachers  and 
came  from  New  York  in  1839.  He  was  a  Methodist 
preacher.  He  died  in  1855. 

John  Pratt  was  from  New  York  and  located  in  1838. 
He  died  after  living  here  forty  years.  David  Pratt  came 
soon  after.  They  had  been  living  in  Cass  county. 

Moses  Ray  and  his  son,  Aaron,  settled  on  the  present 
site  of  Kilbourne  in  the  fall  of  1838.  James  and  Hiram 
Ray,  sons  of  Moses  Ray,  came  two  years  later.  Moses  Ray, 
the  elder,  died  in  December. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  333 

John  Crockson  and  John  Lamb  were  from  Posey  county, 
Ind.,  the  land  of  hoop  poles  and  pumpkins.  Crockson 
moved  to  Missouri.  Lamb  was  a  Dutchman  and  had  a 
family  of  eleven  children.  They  ranged  in  weight  from 
one  hundred  and  sixty  to  two  hundred  pounds. 

Dr.  Mastic  was  an  early  settler  and  was  from  Ohio. 
He  was  the  first  doctor  in  the  township. 

William  McDaniels  came  in  1838  and  died  in  1854. 

James  Ross  moved  in  1840  from  the  south. 

Abraham  Williamson  was  from  Kentucky.  He  came 
from  Morgan  county.  William  Morgan  also  came  from 
Morgan  county. 

Michael  Ott,  another  Pennsylvanian,  settled  in  1841  and 
was  an  old  man  when  he  died. 

The  Tolley  Brothers  came  from  Kentucky  in  1842. 

These  were  the  early  settlers  until  1845,  when  the  pio- 
neers began  to  pour  in  with  great  rapidity.  Among  the  ar- 
rivals were  J.  M.  Hardin,  John  Ransom,  Edward  Gore, 
Joseph  Groves,  John  McLain,  A.  H.  Neal,  James  Angelo 
and  Samuel  Cannon,  who  made  up  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the 
town.  Dr.  O'Neal  came  into  the  town  at  an  early  day  from 
Bath.  John  B.  Gam,  one  of  the  largest  land  holders,  came 
from  Petersburg. 

If  any  of  the  settlers  of  Bath  or  Crane  Creek  should  find 
some  errors  in  their  location  in  the  different  townships,  they 
must  bear  in  mind  that  Kilbourne  was  made  out  of  other 
townships. 

The  first  preacher  was  Moses  Ray,  a  hardshell,  who  could 
sing  and  preach  at  the  same  time.  He  always  had  the  A.  H. 
at  the  same  time.  The  Rev.  M.  Shunk,  the  Methodist 
preacher,  was  a  Dutchman,  a  short,  thick,  heavy  person.  His 
descendants  are  still  alive.  Bro.  Shunk  preached  in  the 
cabins  of  the  pioneers.  The  Baptist  Church  is  always  strong 
in  any  new  county.  He  was  the  first  school  teacher.  The 
schoolhouse  was  built  by  contribution  and  also  served  for  a 


334  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

meeting  house.  An  old  gentleman  by  the  name  pf  Lease 
built  a  cabin,  in  which  school  was.  taught.  I.  A.  Hurd 
taught  in  an  early  day.  The  first  justice  of  the  peace  was 
Albert  Field ;  the  first  constable  was  Aaron  Ray.  The  inci- 
dents in  the  early  courts  were  sometimes  ludicrous.  The 
first  marriage  was  that  of  Jacob  Clodfelter  of  Bath  to  Mary 
Garrett  in  1839.  They  were  married  by  Squire  Field.  The 
first  death  was  old  Becka,  a  negress.  Old  man  Lease  died 
early.  The  first  birth  was  John  Pratt.  The  first  post- 
office  was  established  in  1859  near  John  B.  Gam's.  It  was 
called  Prairie  and  the  mail  was  brought  by  the  coach  that 
ran  from  Springfield  to  Havana.  The  first  store  was  kept 
by  William  Gore,  who  kept  about  a  wheelbarrow  of  goods. 
It  was  about  three  and  one-half  miles  from  the  village  of 
Kilbourne. 

Dr.  Mastic  was  the  first  regular  physician.  The  early 
settlers  went  to  mill  at  Jacksonville,  Salem  and  Robinson. 
Absalom  Mounts  built  a  small  mill  on  Crane  Creek  in  the 
southeast  part  of  the  township  and  when  the  water  ran  dry 
it  was  run  by  horse  power.  Mounts  sold  this  mill  to  Sid- 
well,  who  made  considerable  improvement  in  it.  The  burrs 
were  a  foot  in  diameter  and  the  lower  one  turned  around  in- 
stead of  the  upper.  When  the  burrs  wanted  dressing,  Sid- 
Avell  would  take  them  on  his  arm  and  dress  than  while  walk- 
ing along.  When  the  mill  was  running  at  full  speed,  he 
would  fill  up  the  hopper,  go  home  and  do  work  till  noon 
and  then  in  the  afternoon  go  to  the  mill  and  see  how  it  was 
getting  along.  Sidwell  knew  just  how  long  it  would  take 
to  grind  out  a  turn.  A  few  years  later  a  mill  was  built 
at  Petersburg  and  Sidwell's  mill  was  closed  down.  In  1873 
Kilbourne  township  was  formed  out  of  Bath  and  Crane 
Creek  townships.  Bath  was  a  large  township  and  Crane 
Creek  was  nearly  as  large,  so  the  territory  made  three  good 
sized  townships.  Dr.  Harvey  O'Neal  was  the  first  super- 
visor. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  335 

Kilbourne  is  divided  on  the  political  issues  of  the  day. 
First  one  party  and  then  the  other  claims  the  election.  Dur- 
ing the  late  war  it  furnished  its  quota  of  troops  in  advance 
of  the  call.  Some  of  the  officers  credited  to  Bath  belonged 
to  Kilbourne.  Kilbourne  township  was  named  for  Kilbourne 
Village,  and  both  for  Edward  Kilbourne,  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal men  engaged  in  building  the  road.  The  road  was 
completed  and  trains  put  on  it  in  1872.  The  building  of  the 
road  was  opposed  by  the  Bath  interest,  who  saw  in  its  com- 
pletion a  loss  of  trade  to  themselves.  When  the  first  settlers 
came  to  this  section,  it  abounded  in  deer,  prairie  chickens, 
wolves,  wild  turkeys  and  all  kinds  of  wild  game.  Dr.  Field 
says  he  has  seen  one  hundred  and  fifty  deer  on  the  prairie 
at  one  time  and  it  was  almost  as  uncommon  for  the  people 
to  be  without  venison  as  bread.  Prairie  fires  were  of  fre- 
quent occurrence,  though  no  loss  of  life  has  been  reported, 
but  narrow  escapes  were  of  frequent  occurrence.  The  fol- 
lowing incident  is  reported :  A  couple  of  men  went  out  to 
hunt  deer  and  wild  honey.  They  had  two  wagons  with 
two  horses  each.  On  the  prairie  near  Sangamon  bottom, 
the  day  being  calm  and  but  little  breeze  stirring,  they  thought 
to  set  the  grass  on  fire  and  perhaps  scare  up  a  deer.  They 
had  a  quantity  of  venison  and  five  hundreds  pounds  of 
honey  in  their  wagons.  They  had  scarcely  set  fire  to  the 
grass  when  a  breeze  sprang  up  and  they  were  forced  to 
cut  their  horses  loose  and  flee  for  their  lives.  They  suc- 
ceeded in  escaping  with  their  horses,  but  their  wagons,  veni- 
son and  honey  were  burned.  The  sudden  freeze  in  1837 
is  well  remembered,  but  no  one  in  this  locality,  as  far  as  can 
be  learned,  froze  to  death.  In  other  localities  they  were  less 
fortunate  and  deaths  were  recorded.  A  great  hail  storm 
occurred  in  1845,  that  exceeded  anything  that  ever  happened 
in  this  locality.  When  it  was  over  hail  lay  several  inches 
on  the  ground,  many  of  them  as  large  as  a  man's  fist.  This 


336  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

is  the  hail  storm  that  Dick  Blunt  so  graphically  described 
(as  big  as  saucers  and  four  inches  through).  It  made  a 
terrible  havoc  among  stock;  cattle  and  hogs  were  killed  by 
the  hundreds,  even  the  trees  bore  marks  of  the  storm  for 
years  afterward.  The  timid  thought  the  last  day  had  ar- 
rived and  fell  on  their  knees  and  went  to  praying.  No 
human  lives  were  destroyed,  but  much  stock  was  killed.  In 
early  days  there  was  no  money  in  the  county,  and  nothing 
to  sell  that  would  bring  money;  if  they  had  any  surplus 
product,  there  was  sometimes  a  chance  to  sell  some  to 
movers.  They  went  to  Springfield  to  buy  their  clothing 
and  groceries  when  they  had  anything  to  buy  with.  Kil- 
bourne  has  the  reputation  of  being  a  quiet  and  orderly  com- 
munity. A  desperado  by  the  name  of  Hughs  was  assassina- 
ted, but  he  threatened  the  lives  of  several  citizens  so  the 
public  rested  easier  on  account  of  his  death.  No  effort  was 
made  to  find  the  perpetrators  and  no  one  felt  disposed  to 
bring  them  to  trial. 

VILLAGE  OF    KILBOURNE. 

Kilbourne  was  laid  out  in  1870  by  John  B.  Gam.  The 
first  store  in  the  village  was  opened  up  by  William  Oakford. 
A  saloon  was  kept  by  Old  Billy  Martin  before  Oakford 
kept  store,  but  nothing  but  bad  whiskey  was  sold.  Calvin 
Arterberry  bought  out  Oakford,  and  Dr.  Field  opened  up  a 
store.  A  postoffice  was  established  in  1873,  with  Edward 
Biglow  as  postmaster.  Rev.  Low  was  the  early  Methodist 
preacher  and  Rev.  Curry  the  Baptist  preacher.  Cuba  was 
another  village  in  the  township  of  Kilbourne  but  there  are 
but  few  who  remember  it.  During  the  exciting  war  between 
Bath  and  Havana  for  the  county  seat,  while  Bath  was  the 
county  seat,  the  Havana  people  succeeded  in  bringing  the 
matter  up  for  a  vote,  well  knowing  that  they  had  the  neces- 
sary votes  for  removal.  The  Bath  people  thought  to  throw 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


337 


an  impediment  in  the  way,  so  they  bought  eighty  acres  of 
land  of  Dr.  Mastic,  in  Kilbourne  township,  and  made  a 
paper  town  and  called  it  Cuba,  claiming  that  it  was  near  the 
center  of  the  county.  They  had  the  land  platted  in  lots  with 
a  handsome  public  square,  streets  and  alleys.  They  were  not 
as  successful  in  this  as  was  Asa  Langford,  when  he  traded 
Watterford  lots  for  the  steamboat  Navigator. 


22 


CHAPTER  XXXVI. 


CRANE  CREEK  TOWNSHIP 

HE  most  notable  feature  of  this  township  is  that 
there  is  not  a  village  in  the  whole  body.  Kil- 
bourne  is  the  nearest  town  on  the  south,  while 
Easton  is  the  nearst  on  the  north,  Havana  on  the 
west  and  Mason  City  on  the  east.  Bull's  Eye  Prairie  is  in 
the  center,  Crane  Creek  on  the  eastern  boundary  runs  south 
the  whole  length  of  the  township.  Bull's  Eye,  before  arti- 
ficial drainage,  was  a  wet  prairie  and  the  road  across  it  was 
nearly  impassable  during  the  wet  season.  There  was  no 
settlement,  only  on  the  outskirts,  that  were  bordered  with 
a  scrubby  Black  Jack  timber,  and  the  land  was  so  sandy 
as  to  be  unfit  for  cultivation.  Crane  Creek  was  settled  in  a 
very  early  day.  Most  of  the  early  settlers  were  from  Men- 
ard.  The  first  settlement  was  made  in  Walker's  Grove.  In 
1829,  the  year  that  Ross  made  a  permanent  settlement  in 
Havana,  George  Gannas  and  his  brother  made  a  squatter 
claim  on  the  east  side  of  Walker's  Grove.  They  did  not 
remain  long  and  soon  returned  to  the  state  from  whence 
they  came.  Very  few  of  the  early  settlers  were  fitted  for 
pioneer  life,  leaving,  as  they  did,  older  settled  communities, 
surrounded  by  the  comforts  of  civilization,  and  coining  to  a 
country  where  none  of  these  were  to  be  had.  With  theii 
wives  and  children  deprived  of  these  advantages,  no  wonder 
they  weakened  and  found  more  congenial  places  to  rear 
their  families.  The  year  of  1830  an  influx  of  emigrants 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  339 

came  into  the  township.     These  were  James  Price,  Enoch 
Estep  and  Spence  Clary.     Price  is  remembered  for  his  In- 
dian wife.    She  was  a  fine  specimen  of  the  Indian  race.    On 
leaving  Walker's  Grove  in  a  few  years  he  went  farther  west 
to  the  Indian  Reservation.     Here  he  lost  his  life  while  boat- 
ing.    Clary  remained  a  citizen  as  long  as  he  lived  and  was 
buried  on  the  farm  of  Henry  Sears.     He  was  in  the  war  in 
1812,  and  is  spoken  of  as  a  hard  working  man.     Estep 
was  from  North  Carolina  and  built  his  cabin  near  Revis 
Springs.     J.   A.   Revis,    from  Warren  county,    Kentucky, 
•came  in  1831.     Revis  Springs  and  Revis  Lake  derive  their 
names  from  him.     His  father,  Charles  Revis,  had  come  in 
an  early  day  and  had  built  a  hotel  at  Vandalia.     James 
Revis  died  in  1838  and  was  buried  on  the  bluffs  of  the  San- 
gamon.     Time  has  obliterated  the  place,  and  the  spot  is  not 
now  known.     Their  sons  now  fill  their  vacant  places.     In 
1830  a  number  of  additions  were  made  to  the  settlements. 
John  Yardley  and  his  two  sons,  James  and  John,  came  direct 
from  Kentucky,  stopping  a  short  time  in  Menard  county. 
Soon  after  they  located  on  Crane  Creek.     Old  man  Yard- 
ley,  his  son  John  and  his  son-in-law,  Sol  Norris,  moved  to 
Texas.    James  Yardley  still  resides  on  the  farm  and  has  been 
a  good  citizen.    Josiah  Cook  next  put  in  an  appearance  from 
Green  county,  Kentucky.     By  his  death  many  promises  to 
pay  \vere  canceled.     Jams  Sutton  came  to  Walker's  Grove 
the  year  following.    He  sold  to  James  Estep  and  moved  to 
Havana  township.    In  the  year  of  1820  he  came  to  Menard 
county.     He  laid  his  claim  within  the  limit  of  Petersburg. 
James  gave  up  his  claim  to  his  father  and  moved  across  the 
Sangamon  to  Baker's  Prairie,  but  finally  came  back  and 
improved  the  north  part  of  his  first  claim  and  when  it  came 
into  the  market  entered  it.    He  moved  to  different  localities, 
"but  returned  to  Mason  county  where  he  died.    Harvey  Has- 
kins  was  in  the  Grove  in  1833.     It  was  no  trouble  for  him 
to  move  as  by  walking  and  carrying  his  baby,  and  attended 


34-Q  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

by  his  wife,  who  carried  their  effects  in  a  sack,  the  feat  of 
moving  was  easily  accomplished.  In  1822  Henry  Sears  came 
to  Illinois.  He  lived  in  various  localities,  most  of  the  time 
in  Menard  and  Sangamon.  In  1834  he  came  to  Walker's 
Grove  and  purchased  the  improvements  of  James  Estep. 
He  sold  them  to  James  Walker  in  1837,  and  the  following 
spring  moved  to  Crane  Creek  where  he  was  a  citizen  of 
Sangamon,  Menard  and  Mason  without  ever  changing  his 
residence.  Uncle  Henry  Sears,  as  an  eccentric  man,  was 
always  noted  for  his  peculiarities;  a  man  of  undoubted  in- 
tegrity and  honesty.  His  word  was  as  good  as  his  bond. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  first  pettit  jury  ever  held  in  Mason 
county.  Abner  Baxter,  from  Kentucky,  settled  in  the  Grove 
soon  after  Sears.  Abner  had  a  reputation  as  a  fiddler  and 
his  services  were  always  in  request  at  the  hoe-downs.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners  in 
1844.  The  year  1836  added  Jesse  Baker,  a  brother-in-law 
of  Sears,  to  the  settlements.  He  was  a  great  hunter  and 
perhaps  killed  more  deer  than  any  other  man  in  Mason 
county.  Alfred  Summers  came  from  Kentucky  and  settled 
on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Henry  Sears.  He  died  in 
1837  and  his  death  was  one  of  the  first  to  occur  among  the 
early  settlers.  Passing  back  to  1835,  we  find  Josiah  Dobson, 
John  Close  and  his  sons,  George  and  Jack  Close,  and  also 
Turner  Close.  Jack  Close  finally  moved  to  Havana. 

James  Walker  came  from  Dearborn  county,  Indiana,  and 
bought  a  large  tract  of  land  in  what  is  now  called  Walker's 
Grove.  He  lived  and  raised  a  large  family,  who  have  been 
largely  identified  with  the  interest  and  growth  of  the  county. 
He  built  the  first  frame  house  in  the  county. 

Robert  Cavin,  from  South  Carolina,  is  thought  to  have 
settled  in  the  township  in  1837.  Charles  and  John  Haynes 
became  citizens  in  1838.  At  the  close  of  1839,  Isaac  Teters, 
Hiram  and  George  Walker,  Huff  Hines,  Henry  Norris  and 
Lemuel  Pelham  became  citizens  here.  Teters  came  from  St. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  341 

Clair  county  and  moved  to  Texas.  Hiram  Walker  also 
moved  to  Texas.  Henry  Norris  was  from  Kentucky  and 
was  the  brother  of  Solomon  Norris,  one  of  the  first  settlers. 
Huff  Hines  was  a  fellow  but  a  few  remember.  Lemuel 
Pelham  was  a  Buckeye  and  to  use  Henry  Sear's  expression 
"shackeled  around"  and  from  the  length  of  time  he  spent 
in  each  locality,  he  must  have  been  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  old.  Asher  Scott  and  his  brother,  Martin,  came  with 
,  him,  but  settled  in  what  is  now  Sherman  township.  Around 
the  year  1840  Charles  Veach,  Elijah  Riggin  and  Ensley 
Hall  were  added  to  the  population.  Veach  was  from  Dela- 
van  and  lost  his  life  by  the  caving  in  of  a  well.  Ensley 
Hall  came  from  Tennessee  to  Menard,  then  to  Mason  and 
again  located  in  Menard. 

Rev.  John  L.  Turner,  a  Baptist  preacher,  made  a  settle- 
jnent  near  James  Hawks  in  1840.  He  was  a  quiet  man,  a 
zealous  minister,  worked  six  days  in  a  week  and  then 
preached  more  scriptural  sermons  than  the  preachers  of  the 
present  day  do  after  spending  the  whole  week  on  one  or  two 
sermons.  He  also  held  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  people.  He 
preached  from  the  time  he  came  to  the  state  till  his  death. 

Samuel  Conwell  came  from  Indiana.  Coriwell  was  an 
oddity.  The  early  settlers  thought  Conwell  proud  because 
he  did  not  dress  in  western  style.  Coon  skin  caps  and  buck- 
skin pants  were  the  fashion  then  and  Con  soon  found  him- 
self unpopular  and  he  went  by  the  name  of  "that  D — d 
Yankee."  Con  first  introduced  Berkshire  hogs  and  he  was 
sued  several  times,  the  charge  was  "swindling  the  people." 
Conwell  always  came  out  victorious  and  Jesse  Baker  was  led 
to  say,  "we  can't  correct  this  Jerusalem  Overtaker  of  any- 
thing." Conwell  was  the  first  man  to  introduce  improved 
implements  and  fine  hogs  in  the  country,  so  he  deserves  men- 
tion for  that. 

The  year  1841-32  brought  in  Henry  Seymour,  James  H. 
and  Joseph  Norris,  George  Hall,  Christian  Trueman  and 


342  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Harvey  Stone.  The  Norrises  were  from  Kentucky ;  Joseph 
moved  to  Texas.  George  Hall  bought  the  Walker  farm. 
The  Stones  were  from  Ohio.  Harvey,  after  a  few  years, 
went  back  to  Ohio  and  Christian  moved  to  Iowa.  Henry 
Seymour  was  from  Germany.  Samuel  Nutz,  with  his  sons, 
settled  in  1844.  Harvey  Hathorn  came  in  1846.  He  was 
from  Kentucky  and  of  Scotch  descent.  The  same  year  a 
number  of  the  Tomlins  moved  in  the  northeast  part  of  the 
township.  In  1850  Allen  Robinson  and  James  Hawks 
moved  in.  Hawks  settled  in  Walker's  Grove.  Elisha 
Davenport  came  to  what  is  now  Mason  county,  but  he  did 
not  become  a  citizen  of  Crane  Creek  till  1849.  Many 
others  came  about  this  time,  but  whose  names  are  omitted 
because  of  want  of  space. 

WALKER'S  GROVE. 

This  grove,  which  is  so  often  mentioned  in  connection 
with  Crane  Creek  township,  and  was  the  nucleus  around 
which  settlements  were  made,  was  known  as  Price's  Grove 
prior  to  its  purchase  by  James  Walker  in  1837.  Since  that 
date  it  has  been  called  Walker's  Grove.  The  Grove  em- 
braces about  four  hundred  acres  of  as  fine  a  body  of  timber 
as  can  be  found  anywhere;  a  fine  growth  of  oaks,  black 
walnut,  soft  and  sugar  maple,  hickory,  butternut,  mulberry, 
sassafras,  red  bud,  pawpaw,  dogwood  and  many  other 
varieties.  Many  of  the  pioneers  who  built  their  cabins  near 
this  spot  have  long  since  died. 

The  early  settlers  \vere  content  with  their  mail  once  a 
week,  while  their  successors  now  get  their  daily  papers  and 
are  acquainted  with  what  transpired  yesterday  all  over  the 
world.  Among  the  prominent  subjects  and  discussions  that 
enlivened  their  social  gatherings  was  the  relative  merits  of 
the  gourd  seed  or  flint  corn  or  the  favorite  qualities  of  the 
best  coon  dog. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  343 


RELIGIOUS  SERVICES. 

In  the  early  days  the  Groves  were  God's  first  temples 
where  the  breeze  came  ladened  with  the  perfume  of  a  thou- 
sand flowers.  Rev.  Thomas  Plasters  was  the  first  preacher. 
He  came  as  early  as  1834.  He  was  a  hardshell  Baptist  and 
had  the  holy  tone  so  common  with  that  denomination  and 
as  he  warmed  up  with  his  discourse  his  gesticulation  be- 
came more  violent.  Still  it  was  enjoyed  by  the  pioneers 
who  had  been  deprived  of  the  religious  privileges.  His 
preaching  was  at  the  residences.  Rev.  John  L.  Turner,  who 
came  in  1840,  was  an  early  minister.  Rev.  Abraham  Bale 
should  be  classed  among  the  early  settlers.  Solomon  Bale 
came  early.  The  Rev.  Jacob  Bale,  father  of  Hardin  Bale, 
was  also  a  preacher  of  the  Baptist  persuasion,  though  not 
very  deep  in  theology.  Rev.  Russ,  a  Methodist  preacher, 
often  preached  at  the  residences.  Rev.  William  Coder, 
Wallace  and  Moreland  were  among  the  earliest.  A  church 
was  built  near  the  cemetery  in  Walker's  Grove,  but  burned 
down  about  the  time  it  was  completed.  A  postoffice  was 
established  at  the  house  of  James  Walker  in  1839.  It  was  on 
the  mail  route  from  Springfield  to  Havana.  James  Walker 
was  the  postmaster.  In  about  eighteen  months  it  was  re- 
moved to  Menard  county. 

Jack  Close,  who  occupied  a  prominent  place  among  the 
early  merchants  of  Havana,  had  a  small  country  store  as 
early  as  1841.  The  first  schoolhouse  was  built  on  land  be- 
longing to  Henry  Sears  in  1836.  It  was  patronized  by  a 
large  extent  of  country.  William  Lease  was  the  first  school- 
master. James  Buckner  was  the  first  M.  D.  to  locate.  He 
stopped  at  the  home  of  John  Yardley  and  afterwards  moved 
to  Petersburg.  Dr.  Morgan  was  in  the  township  early,  but 
did  not  remain  long.  The  milling  in  early  days  was  done 
on  the  Mackinaw  and  on  the  Sangamon.  Later  it  was  done 


344  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

at  Simon's  and  McHarry's  on  Quiver.  Two  children  of 
the  family  of  Alexander  Revis  are  supposed  to  have  been 
the  first  deaths.  The  first  marriage  in  the  township  was  John 
Mounts  and  Jane  Summers.  No  doubt  John  could  sing  with 
the  poet : 

"  My  summers  would  last  all  the  year." 

Among  the  early  justices  of  the  peace  were  Ira  Patterson, 
Henry  Norris  and  Robert  Turner.  Patterson  and  Norris 
were  justices  while  it  was  Menard  county.  Turner  was  the 
first  in  Mason  county.  The  first  deed  made  to  a  tract  of  land 
was  made  out  to  Henry  Sears  by  Abraham  Lincoln.  Crane 
Creek  has  always  been  deomocratic.  It  used  to  be  said 
that  they  always  held  the  returns  of  an  election  back  till 
they  found  how  many  votes  were  needed  and  then  at  the  last 
hour  would  send  in  the  number  of  democratic  votes  needed. 
Money  was  very  scarce  and  coon  skins  were  a  legal  tender 
in  most  all  trades.  James  Estep  purchased  a  pair  of  boots 
of  O.  M.  Ross  of  Havana  and  paid  the  entire  amount  in  coon 
skins.  The  ingenuity  of  the  early  settler  was  often  taxed  as 
to  means  to  get  his  whiskey.  William  Summers  once  made 
a  bet  that  he  could  gallop  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on  his  hands 
and  knees  (horse  fashion)  in  a  given  time.  He  won  the  bet 
and  got  his  quarter  of  old  rye  whiskey. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

SALT  CREEK 

HE  original  survey  of  this  township  was  made  in 
1823,  and  was  known  as  Town  2,  Range  6, 
West  of  the  third  Principal  Meridian.  It  con- 
tained thirty-six  sections,  except  a  tier  of  six  sec- 
tions on  the  north  side  which  were  fractional.  Section  thirty- 
six  in  the  southeast  corner  was  divided  by  Salt  Creek  cutting 
off  about  one-third  of  the  section.  The  northern  part  of  the 
township  is  high  rolling  prairie,  once  full  of  ponds  and 
basins,  but  now  drained  and  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation. 
The  west  and  south  parts  are  more  broken  and  the  south 
part,  including  the  Salt  Creek  bluffs  is  very  much  so.  Big 
Grove  extends  along  these  bluffs.  Here  was  where  the 
pioneer  settlers  first  made  their  primitive  homes.  Lease's 
Grove  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  township  contains  about 
two  hundred  acres,  which  is  still  being  cleared  of  the  timber 
for  cultivation,  and  Big  Grove  is  also  being  contracted. 

The  soil  is  very  productive  of  all  cereals  and  fruits  suit- 
able to  the  climate,  but  the  crop  that  is  king  is  corn.  In  its 
earliest  days  wheat  yielded  a  bountiful  crop  and  was  the  first 
crop  raised  on  the  land.  Corn  required  but  little  cultivation 
after  being  planted  and  the  pioneer  spent  most  of  his  time  in 
breaking  prairie,  dropping  corn  in  the  third  furrow.  Corn 
planted  in  this  way  produced  a  large  amount  of  fodder.  The 
early  planted  produced  good  corn,  but  the  late  planting  was 
generally  caught  by  the  frost  and  was  not  good  feed  and  was 
used  for  distilling  purposes,  hence  the  term  of  "Sod  Corn 


346  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Whisky,"  which  was  applied  to  the  inferior  grades  as  an 
expression  of  contempt. 

The  first  entry  of  land  was  made  in  the  township  in  1829 
by  Leonard  Alkers  and  was  a  tract  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  acres  in  section  thirty-four,  contained  in  what  is  now 
Knox  farm,  but  was  not  improved  until  more  than  twenty 
years  later.  In  August,  1829,  William  Hagans  entered  one 
hundred  and  twenty  acres,  which  was  afterwards  sold  to 
Charles  Montgomery.  Here  near  the  brick  residence  built 
by  Charles  Montgomery,  Hagans  built  a  log  cabin,  and  with 
his  family  became  a  settler  in  what  is  now  Eastern  Mason 
county. 

In  1834  James  Hagans  entered  a  forty-acre  tract  and 
built  a  cabin  where  George  Short's  residence  was  built.  In 
1837  John  Hagans  entered  a  forty-acre  tract  where  James 
Montgomery  afterwards  built  a  residence.  A  few  years 
later  they  all  sold  out  to  Ephraim  Wilcox  and  moved  West. 
In  1830  a  family  by  the  name  of  Slinker  squatted  on  a  piece 
of  land  in  the  grove  northwest,  but  nothing  is  known  as  to 
where  they  went.  In  1833  a  man  by  the  name  of  Lease 
settled  in  the  northwest  part  of  the  township  in  a  grove  which 
took  his  name,  and  it  still  retains  the  name.  Samuel  Blunt, 
George  Wilson  and  the  Moslanders  settled  at  Lease's  Grove. 
Wilson's  son  Orey  committed  suicide  by  hanging  himself  to 
a  limb  of  a  tree,  which  was  the  first  case  of  self-destruction 
in  the  township. 

In  1835  Isaac  Engle  entered  a  forty-acre  tract  after- 
wards owned  by  William  Anxier.  Engle  built  a  cabin. 
This  place  was  purchased  by  Edward  Sikes  in  1837.  Sikes 
had  come  from  Ohio  with  several  families  and  settled  in  the 
grove.  A  few  years  later  Sikes  built  a  substantial  frame 
house  and  planted  an  orchard  of  the  first  grafted  fruit  in  the 
country. 

In  the  old  log  house  on  this  place  the  first  school  was 
taught  by  one  of  the  daughters  of  Sikes,  now  Mrs.  S.  D. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  347 

Swing  of  Mason  City,   who  with  her  husband  settled  at 
Swing's  Grove. 

In  1835  Michael  Engle  entered  eighty  acres,  afterwards 
known  as  the  Hume  Place,  but  nothing  now  remains  except 
where  the  well  stood.  A  child  of  John  Carter  was  drowned 
in  the  well  in  the  summer  of  1849. 

In  1837  Kinsey  Virgin  moved  out  from  Ohio  and  bought 
the  place  and  built  a  hewn  log  house  and  soon  settled  down 
in  his  new  romantic  home.  He  was  a  stock  raiser  and  was 
soon  in  good  circumstances,  but  only  one  of  his  family  lived 
to  reach  the  age  of  majority.  Kinsey  died  in  1852  and  his 
wife  two  years  later.  The  same  year,  1837,  George  Virgin 
settled  a  quarter  of  a  mile  west.  George  was  of  a  domestic 
nature  and  employed  his  time  in  making  home  pleasant,  not 
caring  for  stock  nor  acquiring  all  the  land  around  him.  He 
was  a  large  corpulent  man  and  enjoyed  life  as  he  went  along, 
letting  the  future  care  for  itself,  though  not  by  any  means 
shiftless  or  improvident.  His  wife,  whom  everybody  called 
Aunt  Alley,  was  a  woman  of  wonderful  energy.  No  sacri- 
fice of  personal  comfort  was  too  great  for  her,  and  she  was 
always  doing  good  to  accommodate  the  people  of  the  com- 
munity, \vho  had  to  go  ^o  Havana  for  their  groceries.  Mr. 
Virgin,  in  a  house  eight  by  ten  feet,  kept  a  small  stock  of 
sugar  and  coffee  and  a  few  of  the  necessaries  of  life  for  sale. 
We  recollect  seeing  him  come  to  Havana  and  buy  his  stock 
of  goods  of  Walker  and  Hancock  and  convey  them  twenty- 
four  miles  by  wagon  to  his  home.  When  the  demand  in- 
creased, he  moved  fifty  yards  east  of  his  house  and  added 
a  general  assortment  of  goods.  When  this  became  too  small, 
he  built  a  store  house  in  the  little  town  of  Hiawatha. 

Mr.  Virgin's  unfortunate  death  occurred  in  1855.  The 
family  had  been  using  poison  and  kept  it  on  the  mantle  with 
other  bottles.  In  the  night,  Mr.  Virgin  had  the  colic  to 
which  he  was  subject,  and  got  up  and  went  to  the  mantle 
to  take  some  camphor,  which  he  always  kept  in  a  certain 


348  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

place.  He  did  not  take  a  light,  and  took  a  swallow  of  the 
poison.  Although  the  mistake  was  discovered  at  once  and 
medical  aid  summoned,  he  died  from  the  effects.  The 
widow  died  of  cholera  at  the  old  homestead  in  1873.  They 
had  no  children. 

About  this  time  Rezin  Virgin,  a  brother,  entered  and 
improved  a  farm.  In  the  course  of  a  few  years  Rezin  entered 
a  large  amount  of  land  on  the  north  side  of  the  grove,  and 
married  the  widow  of  Ephraim  Brooner,  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  the  township.  He  improved  his  land  and  settled 
down  in  a  log  house  on  the  south  side  of  a  large  pond. 
From  here  he  moved  to  a  house  on  his  land,  a  mile  farther, 
where  he  died  in  1872,  and  his  widow  died  a  few  years 
later.  Rezin  was  a  man  of  great  energy,  though  weak  phys- 
ically all  his  life. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  peculiar  and  eccentric  men  in  the 
whole  country.  Abraham  Virgin,  one  of  the  four  brothers, 
settled  in  1837  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  grove  in  a  log  cabin, 
the  style  of  the  buildings  in  those  days.  He  engaged  in  stock 
raising  and  farming,  and  went  through  the  privations  of  the 
early  times.  In  1853  ne  was  afflicted  with  a  malady  that 
made  it  necessary  to  send  him  to  the  insane  asylum  at  Jack- 
sonville. He  was  soon  restored  to  his  right  mind,  and  lived 
and  directed  his  affairs  until  he  died  with  the  cholera  which 
swept  through  this  section  in  1873.  His  wife  was  also 
taken  with  the  dread  disease,  but  lived  until  1877.  Aunt 
Betsey  was  a  great  friend  to  the  poor,  the  sick  and  afflicted. 

A  year  or  two  later,  Abner  Baxter,  John  Young,  Ira 
Halstead  and  Ira  Patterson  settled  in  the  southwrest  part  of 
the  township.  Young  died  in  1848,  and  his  widow  in  1862. 

Ira  Halstead  was  a  blacksmith  and  a  Methodist  preacher, 
who  removed  to  Wisconsin.  Ira  Patterson  was  a  justice  of 
the  peace  and  moved  to  Oregon,  and  was  appointed  territor- 
ial governor.  He  lived  in  a  hewn  log  house  at  the  foot  of 
the  bluff  below  the  mouth  of  Salt  Creek.  On  the  place  ad- 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  349 

joining  on  the  east  lived  Uncle  Jackey  and  Aunt  Hannah 
Armstrong,  who  furnished  a  home  for  the  immortal  Lincoln 
when  he  was  a  young  man,  and  it  was  by  the  light  of  their 
fire  that  Lincoln  stored  his  mind  with  a  fund  of  information, 
in  the  reading  of  such  books  as  he  could  obtain.  The  grati- 
tude of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  this  family  continued  as  long  as  he 
lived,  and  was  manifested  in  various  ways,  even  after  he  be- 
came president. 

In  1857  Duff  Armstrong  was  indicted  by  the  grand  jury 
for  murder  at  a  campmeeting  held  at  Big  Grove,  and  at  the 
trial,  Lincoln  without  a  fee,  cleared  Duff  by  the  almanac,  in 
gratitude  for  what  the  Armstrong  family  had  done  for  him 
in  earlier  days.  The  almanac  story  has  been  published  from 
one  end  of  this  country  to  the  other.  The  true  story  will  be 
found  in  another  part  of  this  book. 

In  1841  John  Swans  settled  on  a  forty-acre  tract  in  Salt 
Creek  Bottom,  from  which  Swan's  Ford  on  the  Creek  south 
of  that  place  took  its  name. 

John  Auxier  and  his  brother  Eli  came  out  and  settled  on 
the  north  side  of  the  grove.  Eli  died  in  1848.  John  Auxier 
was  a  large  feeder  of  cattle  and  hogs,  and  he  bought  a  large 
tract  of  land  on  the  east  end  of  the  grove,  and  built  a  house 
where  the  M.  E.  church  was  built.  He  died  in  1857. 

John  Y.  Lane  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  on  the  prairie 
west  of  Mason  City,  and  built  a  house  composed  of  canvas 
grass  and  poles.  He  lived  there  a  year  or  so.  He  was  then 
an  old  man.  He  was  a  Tennessean,  and  had  fought  under 
General  Jackson  in  the  war  of  1812.  When  the  Petersburg 
and  Tonka  railroad  was  built,  Mr.  Lane  built  a  large  frame 
house  designed  for  a  hotel. 

John  L.  Chase  lived  in  the  southwest  part  of  the  township 
and  was  appointed  postmaster.  The  office. was  then  re- 
moved from  Walker's  Grove  and  the  mail  was  carried  once 
a  week  from  Petersburg  on  horseback.  Sometimes  several 


35°  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

weeks  would  elapse  before  any  mail  was  received,  on  ac- 
count of  the  high  waters  of  Salt  Creek.  Mr.  Chase  died  in 
1856,  when  William  Wamock,  who  with  William  Young 
kept  a  country  store,  was  appointed  postmaster.  He  moved 
to  Hiawatha  and  then  moved  to  Mason  City. 

A  small  cluster  of  buildings  sprung  up  around  Hia- 
watha, among  which  was  a  flour  mill  and  a  saw  mill  and 
blacksmith  shop.  Dr.  Hall  was  a  prominent  physician. 
They  expected  the  Petersburg  and  Tonica  railroad  to  strike 
the  town,  but  alas,  their  hopes  were  blasted.  Mason  City 
sang  the  requiem  of  Hiawatha. 

The  Virgin  school  house  was  the  voting  place  for  the 
precinct,  and  many  were  the  drnken  brawls  at  that  place. 
At  this  school  house  religious  meetings  were  also  held  in 
which  great  excitement  was  manifested  and  whiskey  was 
dispensed.  Peter  Cartright  used  to  attend  these  meetings, 
and  here  it  was  that  Duff  Armstrong  was  charged  with  the 
murder  of  Medsear.  Here  it  was  that  Dr.  J.  P.  Walker, 
Dr.  A.  R.  Cooper  and  Dr.  Deskins  settled. 

A  violent  hail  storm  devastated  this  country  in  1850,  and 
chickens,  pigs  and  sheep  were  swept  from  the  face  of  the 
earth,  as  with  the  besom  of  destruction.  Dr.  Knox  was  a 
prominent  resident  of  the  township;  also  H.  C.  Burnham, 
George  Baxter,  Charles  Montgomery  and  many  others. 
Salt  Creek  township  will  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the 
annals  of  Mason  .county,  in  its  past,  present  and  future 
history. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 


HENRY  ONSTOT 

UR  present  subject  was  a  Kentuckian  by  birth, 
having  been  born  in  Gerrard  county  in  1805. 
He  moved  to  Sugar  Grove  in  1825  and  can  well 
be  called  a  "Sucker"  by  adoption.  A  large 
number  of  settlers  came  to  Sugar  Grove  and  Salt  Creek  about 
that  time.  Ben  Davis  lived  on  the  creek  and  the  place  was 
called  Davis'  Ferry.  David  Onstot  settled  on  the  Smoot 
farm,  where  he  built  a  mill  and  ground  corn  for  the  settlers. 
He  lived  there  until  after  the  deep  snow  and  then  moved 
to  Taney  county,  Mo.,  because  he  said  this  country  was 
getting  to  thickly  settled  for  him,  although  there  were  not 
five  houses  within  as  many  miles. 

William  Sampson  was  another  brother-in-law,  who  lived 
and  died  in  the  same  community,  and  who  had  a  family  of 
eight  boys  and  two  girls,  who  are  now  all  dead  but  two 
boys. 

When  Henry  Onstot  first  settled  in  Sugar  Grove,  near 
where  Green  view  now  stands,  there  was  a  band  of  Indians 
camped  on  Salt  Creek  about  four  miles  north,  who  often 
came  to  the  Grove,  for  milk  or  something  to  eat.  Sometimes 
when  the  men  were  off  at  work  the  Indians  would  become 
saucy  and  the  women  finally  became  so  frightened  that  they 
would  not  stay  at  home  alone.  One  day  the  men,  to  the 
number  of  about  twenty,  with  their  maple  stock  rifles,  went 
down  to  the  Creek  and  gave  the  Indians  their  orders  and 
they  behaved  themselves  after  that. 


352  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Henry  Onstot  moved  to  Old  Salem  in  1831  and  was  iden- 
tified with  that  historic  village  until  that  town  was  moved 
to  Petersburg  in  1840.  The  deep  snow  is  what  all  the  old 
settlers  date  back  to.  It  commenced  snowing  in  December 
and  snowed  until  February,  the  snow  averaging  six  feet  deep. 
A  man  could  catch  a  deer  any  place  as  they  would  mire 
down  and  get  so  poor  that  many  of  them  perished  from  hun- 
ger. Onstot  kept  a  hotel  and  afterward  run  a  cooper  shop. 
In  the  winter  time  he  would  go  to  Beardstown,  which  was 
then  a  great  pork  market,  and -oversee  the  shop  there.  It 
was  thirty-five  miles  distant  but  was  only  a  good  days  walk 
for  Mr.  Onstot.  In  1840  he  moved  his  house  down  to 
Petersburg.  It  was  only  a  log  house  but  it  was  weather 
boarded  and  looked  like  a  frame  house.  I  saw  it  a  few 
weeks  ago  and  it  looked  as  if  it  might  be  good  for  fifty  years 
more. 

Onstot  was  a  whig  in  politics  and  a  Cumberland  Presby- 
terian in  religion.  In  looking  over  some  of  his  old  papers  a 
few  months  ago  I  found  a  church  letter  which  was  given  him 
by  Elihu  Bone,  of  Rock  Creek  church,  in  October,  1842, 
when  a  church  was  being  organized  in  Petersburg.  Think- 
ing it  might  be  prized  as  a  relic  I  took  it  to  the  old  Salem 
Chautauqua  and  showed  it  to  Rev.  Archer,  .pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  church.  "I  want  that,"  said  Archer,  "I  will 
have  it  framed  and  hung  in  my  church."  He  did  have  it 
framed  and  hung  it  in  the  Cumberland  tent  at  the  Chautau- 
qua grounds,  where  hundreds  of  people  read  it.  It  was  only 
a  little  scrap  of  paper  but  it  was  the  foundation  of  the  Peters- 
burg Presbyterian  church. 

Mr.  Onstot  moved  to  Mason  county  in  1846  and  lived  in 
and  around  Havana  for  twenty-two  years  and  was  widely 
known.  His  shop  was  always  full  of  children  and  many  of 
the  middle-aged  people  of  Havana  remember  the  cooper  shop 
and  the  kind  old  man  who  always  had  a  pleasant  word  for 
them.  In  1868  Mother  Onstot  died  and  then  he  came  and 
made  his  home  with  me  in  Forest  City.  I  had  a  good  home 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  353 

and  with  a  noble  wife  and  loving  children  we  made  the  last 
ten  years  of  his  life  as  comfortable  as  possible,  and  when  the 
end  came  we  tenderly  took  his  remains  to  Havana  and  laid 
them  beside  those  of  his  wife  and  two  children,  one  son  and 
one  daughter. 

He  had  not  an  enemy  in  the  world  but  made  friends 
wherever  he  went.  The  old  settlers  often  speak  of  Henry 
Onstot.  In  all  questions  that  came  before  him  he  would  ask, 
is  it  right  ?  And  when  that  point  was  settled  no  power  could 
move  him  from  it.  I  recollect  once  an  old  Baptist  deacon 
wanted  him  to  make  some  whiskey  barrels  but  he  would  not 
do  it.  He  thought  the  whole  liquor  traffic  a  sin  against  God 
and  humanity  and  never  by  thought,  word  or  deed  sanc- 
tioned it.  He  and  Dr.  Allen  organized  the  first  Sunday 
School  in  Old  Salem  and  in  1840  they  organized  one  in 
Petersburg.  In  1847  ne  ar>d  Mrs.  Hancock  organized  the 
first  one  in  Havana. 


THE  OLD  HOME 

We  have  sold  the  old  home,  where  for  thirty  years  we 
have  lived,  and  in  a  few  days  shall  leave  it  forever.  We  are 
not  going  but  a  few  blocks  away,  but  a  feeling  of  sadness 
comes  over  us  while  the  precious  memories  of  the  score  and 
ten  years  we  have  lived  in  it  is  reproduced  to  our  vivid  im- 
agination. When  we  moved  in  it  the  great  rebellion  had 
been  subdued.  We  were  just  in  the  prime  of  our  manhood, 
full  of  hope  for  the  future,  with  a  noble  companion  and 
children  to  share  our  joys.  Our  home  at  first  was  small,  but 
additions  from  time  to  time  made  it  commodious  and  pleas- 
ant. 

Our  father  came  to  spend  his  declining  days  with  us,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  was  a  central  figure,  and  we  all  vied 
with  each  other  to  make  his  last  days  pleasant,  but  the  end 

23 


354  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

came,  and  our  father  whose  home  was  in  the  west  room  was 
not,  "for  God  took  him"  in  1876.  Kind  friends  bore  him 
gently  away  to  the  Havana  cemetery,  where  by  the  side  of 
mother  and  Isaac,  Mary  Ann  and  William,  he  gently  sleeps. 

There  was  one  vacant  chair,  one  missing  link.  Another 
year  sped  on  and  Ellen,  the  eldest,  began  to  fade  as  the 
flower,  and  one  morning  a  convoy  of  angels  escorted  her 
freed  spirit  to  where  "the  flowers  bloom  forever  and  the 
fields  are  eternally  fair."  It  was  hard  to  say,  "thy  will  be 
done."  Next  the  faithful  mother  and  wife  came  down  to  the 
river's  brink,  and  with  a  heroic  Christian  faith  passed  over 
to  the  "shining  shore." 

"The  old  home  ain't  like  it  used  to  be,"  and  side  by  side 
in  the  beautiful  cemetery  of  Pleasant  Plains,  they  await  the 
resurrection  morn. 

"I  sometimes  dream  their  pleasant  smiles  still  on  me 
sweetly  falls,  their  tones  of  love  I  faintly  hear,  my  name  in 
sadness  call."  No  wonder  the  memories  of  the  sad  as  well 
as  pleasant  hours  I  spent  in  the  old  home  will,  till  life's  latest 
breath  be  indelibly  written  on  the  tablet  of  my  heart.  These 
large  maples  were  planted  by  my  hanti,  the  large  oaks  were 
small  trees.  Since  I  made  the  old  home,  a  new  generation 
has  come  upon  the  stage  of  action.  Many  who  lived  here 
and  who  have  enjoyed  the  hospitalities  of  the  old  home  have 
been  called  from  labor  to  reward.  We  have  strong  attach- 
ments for  our  old  homes,  every  time  we  visit  Petersburg,  we 
step  in  our  early  home  and  though  strangers  live  thefe  they 
bid  us  welcome.  We  have  not  made  many  moves  in  our  pil- 
grimage. This  will  be  the  second.  Our  chickens  have  not 
been  trained  to  lie-on  their  backs  and  hold  up  their  legs  to  be 
tied  every  time  a  covered  wagon  comes  along.  Three  moves 
are  as  bad  as  a  burnout,  it  is  said.  We  shall  try  and  not  move 
the  third  time.  It  will  take  some  time  to  get  used  to  the  new 
home.  It  is  not  so  large  and  has  not  some  of  the  conveni- 
ences of  the  old  home,  but  we  will  try  to  adapt  ourselves  to 
the  new  home,  and  remember  that  while  we  have  pleasant 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  355 

homes  that  this  is  not  our  abiding  place,  that  we  seek  a  better 
home,  a  "land  that  is  fairer  than  day,"  a  home  in  heaven, 
after  we  have  crossed  life's  tempestuous  sea,  where  the  grand 
re-union  with  those  gone  before  shall  take  place,  in  a  home 
eternal  in  the  heavens. 


SAND  BURRS 

There  never  was  such  a  plague  or  misfortune  ever 
happened  to  the  settlers  of  Mason  county  as  the  sand  burr, 
or  caused  so  much  annoyance  to  the  farmers,  and  a  little 
history  of  how  they  came  here  might  be  interesting  to  some 
of  the  people  of  this  county.  It  was  in  the  fall  of  1830  while 
O.  M.  Ross  was  living  in  his  log  cabin  on  the  bank  of  the 
Illinois  river  just  above  the  ferry  landing  that  a  traveler  with 
two  horses  and  a  wagon  drove  up  to  his  cabin  one  evening 
and  asked  if  he  could  get  to  camp  near  by  for  the  night, 
that  he  was  moving  from  the  state  of  Ohio  and  wanted  lo 
cross  the  river  in  the  morning. 

Ross  showed  him  a  camping  place  a  few  rods  north  of 
the  house.  He  drove  there  and  unhitched  his  horses  and 
tied  them  to  the  back  of  the  wagon  and  tpok  three  sheaves 
of  oats  and  fed  them  to  his  horses.  The  next  morning  he 
crossed  the  river.  The  next  spring  there  came  up  a  patch  of 
grass  about  ten  feet  square  that  resembled  young  timothy 
grass  and  when  it  grew  twelve  or  fifteen  inches  high  and  got 
ripe  there  appeared  upon  every  spear  of  the  grass  a  bunch 
of  burrs.  They  grew  to  about  the  size  of  a  pea  and  were 
as  sharp  as  needles.  Nothing  was  thought  of  the  bunch  of 
grass  at  the  time  or  it  could  all  have  been  dug  out  and 
destroyed  in  a  short  time,  but  the  horses  and  cattle  would 
come  and  graze  and  lie  there  and  the  burrs  would  get  in 
their  tails  and  in  the  wool  of  the  sheep  and  was  carried  that 
way  and  was  finally  scattered  over  the  county.  It  was  no 


356 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


use,  how  poor  and  sandy  the  land  was  where  the  seed  was 
dropped,  they  would  always  grow  and  when  they  got  in  the 
grain  fields  with  the  wheat  and  oats  they  were  a  terrible 
annoyance  to  the  farmers  for  the  grain  could  not  be  bound 
without  the  workmen  wearing  a  thick  pair  of  gloves. 

When  O.  M.  Ross  first  settled  in  Havana  there  was  also 
found  growing  on  the  side  of  the  bluff  about  half  way  from 
the  hotel  and  the  river  a  patch  of  prickly  pears  covering 
about  half  an  acre.  They  grew  from  one  to  two  feet  high 
and  were  a  great  curiosity  to  many  people  and  when  a 
steamer  landed  the  passengers  would  go  out  to  see  them,  but 
like  the  sand  burr  they  soon  got  scattered  over  the  county. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

PEN  PICTURE  OF  COL.  JOHN  E.  NEIKIRK 

VERY  man  is  marked  by  something  that  distin- 
guishes him  from  everybody  else,  'even  the 
human  voice.  You  may  not  have  seen  a  per- 
son for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  his  features  may 
have  changed,  you  may  not  recognize  the  person,  yet  his 
voice  does  not  change.  He  may  come  in  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  but  you  know  him  by  his  voice. 

A  man  raised  on  the  broad  plains  of  Illinois  has  good 
lungs,  his  vision  is  broad,  his  ideas  are  large. 

A  friend  whose  name  heads  our  article  has  been  a  cen- 
tral figure  in  this  community  since  1854.  He  was  born 
nearly  three  score  years  ago,  across  the  Alleghanies  in  Mary- 
land, in  the  dark  ages,  before  any  of  the  modern  improve- 
ments of  the  present  age.  He  wore  home  spun  clothes,  and 
hog  and  hominy  were  the  chief  diet.  He  acquired  a  com- 
mon school  education  that  laid  the  foundation  for  his  future 
greatness. 

But  as  Maryland  was  a  good  state  to  be  born  in  pro- 
vided a  man  emigrated  soon  afterwards,  his  father  loaded 
up  his  family  and  his  goods  and  took  Greely's  advice  and 
went  west. 

The  center  of  the  west  to  them  was  Seneca  County,  Ohio. 
Here  he  grew  to  manhood,  nothing  very  startling  occurring. 
It  was  never  John's  privilege  to  go  through  college.  In 
1854  his  father  and  family  started  west  again,  a  train  of 
eight  wagons  made  the  procession  and  John  stopped  near 


358  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Forest  City,  or  where  Forest  City  was  located  a  few  years 
later,  and  began  to  grow  up  with  the  country. 

The  country  was  new  and  deer  roamed  the  prairie  like 
sheep,  and  the  howl  of  the  wolf  made  the  nights  hideous. 

In  1861,  when  treason's  dark  cloud  began  to  arrive, 
John's  patriotic  soul  began  to  hum  within  him  and  when 
a  call  was  made  for  the  country's  defenders  John  responded. 

We  are  coming  Father  Abraham, 
Three  hundred  thousand  strong. 

In  1861  he  enlisted  in  Capt.  Fullerton's  Company,  and 
for  three  years  was  a  soldier  good  and  true.  He  was  in 
several  engagements  and  came  home  without  a  wound  and 
in  good  health,  with  an  honorable  discharge,  and  a  good 
record  as  a  soldier. 

The  war  being  over,  John  returned  to  the  peaceful  pur- 
suits of  farm  life,  built  a  house  and  was  soon  in  possession 
of  a  wife.  Miss  Phoebe  Reed  was  the  fortunate  one,  and  to 
her  John  gives  credit  for  his  success  in  life.  Improvements 
have  been  made  till  he  now  has  a  comfortable  and  happy 
home.  Three  sons  and  two  daughters,  with  Aunt  Phoebe, 
as  she  is  familiarly  called,  make  up  the  family.  Their 
children  are  intelligent  and  excel  in  their  studies.  Orin  and 
Oscar,  the  eldest,  are  fine  specimens,  both  physically  and 
morally,  of  Christian  young  men,  who  have  a  brieht  future 
before  them.  They  have  finished  their  education  at  Cham- 
paign University.  We  do  not  know  how  much  credit  John 
is  entitled  to  for  the  success  of  his  boys,  but  are  certain  he 
offers  no  objection  to  their  ambition. 

Mr.  Neikirk  has  held  several  offices  and  while  not  an 
office  seeker,  has  been  constable,  tax  collector,  road  com- 
missioner and  school  director.  The  latter  office  he  held  for 
several  years,  and  due  credit  is  due  him.  He  is  a  rabid 
Republican  in  politics,  in  religion,  he  leans  on  the  Metho.'ists 
as  all  his  family  belongs  to  that  church,  and  John  will  no 
doubt  try  and  fall  through  the  pearly  gates  into  the  New 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  359 

Jerusalem  on  a  family  ticket.  On  temperance,  John  might 
be  classed  as  a  mug  wamp.  While  temperate  himself,  he 
would  be  inclined  to  take  Paul's  advice  to  Timothy:  "A 
little  wine  when  your  stomach  is  out  of  order."  He  has 
considerable  talent  as  a  public  speaker  and  has,  at  times, 
when  occasion  required,  soared  to  the  loftiest  heights.  One 
of  these  occasions  comes  to  our  mind.  At  the  Neikirk  re- 
union in  Ohio  a  few  years  ago,  a  cousin  of  John's,  who 
had  a  rather  weak  voice,  had  made  a  speech,  which  could 
not  be  heard  by  all  the  crowd.  John  followed,  and  apol- 
ogized for  his  cousin  in  the  following  language :  "My 
cousin  has  spent  his  life  here  among  the  hills,  where  they 
have  their  three  to  five  acres  to  farm  and  a  big  hill, 
so  his  vision  has  been  contracted,  he  doesn't  have  to  speak 
loud  to  make  anyone  hear  him,  and  when  the  milk  maid 
goes  out  to  pail  the  Jersey,  she  simply  has  to  call  in  a  low 
voice,  and  the  Jersey,  not  more  than  fifty  yards  away,  in  the 
back  of  the  pasture  comes  and  is  milked." 

After  a  pause,  John  raised  his  voice  to  a  high  pitch  and 
continued :  "It  is  not  so  in  the  broad  prairies  of  Illinois, 
where  your  humble  speaker  hails  from,  where  we  have  a 
thousand  acres  in  a  pasture,  and  so  level  that  a  rabbit  could 
not  hide  in  it.  Behold  the  milk  maid  as  she  cometh  forth 
to  divest  the  Jersey.  After  the  day's  work  is  done,  her  eyes 
scan  the  horizon,  and  away  in  the  far  distance,  perchance 
in  the  back  of  the  1,000  acre  pasture,  she  spies  some  yellow 
objects,  not  larger  than  a  shepherd  dog,  and  she  has  to 
use  all  her  lung  power;  co — ba — sa — co — ba — sa — .  The 
gentle  bovine  raises  her  head  from  the  sweet  clover  and 
after  locating  the  direction  of  the  sound;  comes  home  and 
fills  the  milk  maid's  bucket.  My  cousin  is  not  to  blame 
for  having  a  weak  voice,  growing  up  with  these  surround- 
ings." 

His  manner  of  speaking  is  free  and  easy  if  he  has  no 
opposition.  He  is  not  a  debator.  His  encounter  with  Jim 
Rowley  last  campaign  showed  that.  We  don't  think  John 


360  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

was  satisfied  with  the  results  of  that  debate  himself.  One 
of  his  strong  points  is  his  singing  of  a  poetic  nature.  When 
he  gets  in  company  with  Henry  Knupple,  their  voices  blend 
in  harmony  in  "Marching  Through  Georgia,"  or  similar 
strains.  He  can  make  "America"  roll,  and  at  a  Fourth  of 
July  celebration  here  four  years  ago,  he  tried  his  voice  on 
"Hail  Columbia."  He  got  dashed  by  the  large  crowd  be- 
fore him,  and  after  singing  the  first  verse,  forgot  the  bal- 
ance of  the  song. 

His  personal  appearance  is  striking ;  tall  and  well  formed. 
He  stands  like  Saul  among  the  prophets.  By  some  he  is 
supposed  to  resemble  Lincoln.  ^We  think  not,  but  would 
say  Cullom. 

He  has  many  friends.  The  world  is  better  for  such 
men  as  Col.  John  E.  Neikirk. 


REVERDY  J.  ONSTOT 

Reverdy  J.  Onstot,  who  delights  to  call  himself  a  "snow 
bird"  was  born  December  6,  1830  (the  winter  of  the  deep 
snow),  in  New  Salem,  Illinois,  made  historical  by  being 
the  home  of  Abraham  Lincoln  from  1831  to  1837,  who  he 
remembers  very  well  and  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  the 
grocery  store  kept  by  Lincoln  &  Berry. 

Mr..  Onstot  is  the  possessor  of  two  iron  well-bucket  hoops 
that  was  part  of  four,  and  the  bale  his  father  took  for 
seventy-five  cents  on  Lincoln's  board  while  he  kept  the 
tavern  in  New  Salem  in  1833.  Mr.  Onstot  also  has  the 
plat  of  the  town  of  Huron,  which  was  surveyed  and  platted 
by  Lincoln  at  Miller's  ferry,  on  the  Sangamon  river,  for 
Geo.  Miller.  Col.  E.  D.  Baker,  Simeon  Francis,  John 
Houge,  N.  W.  Edwards,  David  Prickett,  Samuel  Morris, 
William  Carpenter,  Geshom  Jayne  and  Chas.  B.  Francis, 
of  Springfield,  who  were  partners  of  Geo.  B.  Miller.  Noth- 
ing ever  came  to  the  town  as  the  canal  up  the  Sangamon 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  361 

river  from  Beardstown  to  Springfield  was  never  built  as 
projected  in  1833.  His  father  moved  to  Petersburg  from 
Salem  in  '39,  where  R.  J.  often  heard  Lincoln,  Douglas, 
Baker,  John  J.  Hardin,  Murrey  McConnell,  David  Logan, 
Judge  Robbins,  T.  L.  Harris  and  many  other  noted  men 
speak.  Mr.  Onstot  did  not  go  as  a  soldier  as  he  was 
badly  ruptured  while  assisting  in  raising  a  Lincoln  pole  in 
Havana  in  1860,  where  he  then  lived.  He  assisted  in  rais- 
ing two  companies  and  was  the  first  route  mail  agent  on  the 
P.  P.  &  J.  R.  R.,  with  headquarters  at  Pekin  where  he 
helped  originate  and  organize  the  Union  League;  a  service 
to  his  country  second  to  none.  It  was  the  Union  League 
that  cemented  Republicans  and  War  Democrats  into  the 
Union  party  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  It  was 
through  him  and  Postmaster  Hart  Montgomery  that 
Leagues  were  at  once  organized  in  Havana,  Virginia,  Jack- 
sonville, Springfield,  Bloomington  and  El  Paso;  he  also  as- 
sisted in  organizing  at  Peoria ;  it  then  spread  all  over  the 
loyal  Northern  states  and  gave  to  the  Union  cause  those 
great  victories  at  the  polls  in  '63.  Mr.  Onstot  was  pros- 
trated by  overwork  and  laid  in  bed  for  two  years.  Upon 
his  recovery  he  came  to  Mason  City  in  1874  where  he  has 
since  lived,  being  engaged  in  the  book  and  news  trade.  He 
has  never  held  an  office  since  '63  and  the  one  he  then 
held  he  resigned  and  gave  up  his  position  to  a  broken- 
down  soldier.  He  has  never  been  an  office  seeker,  though 
he  has  been  one  of  the  hardest  workers  in  the  party  and  for 
a  long  time  one  of  the  County  Central  Committee  for 
Mason  City.  If  there  is  a  man  that  deserves  recognition  for 
party  service  it  is  he,  for  he  is  both  honest  and  capable. 


A  HUSTLER 

In  looking  over  our  field  for  a  live,  energetic,  get  up 
and  dust  man  to  set  for  his  picture,  we  only  had  to  move 


362  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

south  across  the  iron  bridge  less  than  a  mile,  where  we 
found  the  subject  of  our  sketch  in  a  nice  farm  house,  half 
hidden  among  the  shade  trees. 

J.  Alonzo  Barnes  was  born  at  Canton,  October  8,  1852. 
His  father  was  a  cooper  by  trade.  When  Lon  was  four 
years  old  his  father  moved  to  Farmington,  in  the  same 
county,  and  lived  there  several  years. 

In  1859  the  family  moved  to  Kansas.  The  following 
year  was  the  great  drouth  and  the  people  left  in  great  num- 
bers. Many  came  back  east  to  visit  their  "wife's  relations/' 
Lon's  father  settled  i&f  a  while  in  Peoria.  He  well  recol- 
lects seeing  the  first  soldiers  leave  for  the  seat  of  war  on 
a  steamboat,  and  his  patriotic  heart  was  stirred  by  the  fife 
and  drum. 

Not  liking  the  city  life  we  next  find  him  on  the  raw 
prairie  in  Hancock  county,  where  he  learned  to  farm.  Here 
he  learned  to  love  farming,  a  business  he  now  follows. 

And  now  comes  a  dark  shadow,  which  was  probably  the 
turning  point  of  his  life.  His  mother  died,  his  father  broke 
up  housekeeping  and  Lon  went  to  live  with  his  uncle,  Alonzo 
Barnes  in  Prairie  City. 

Our  hustler  never  went  to  school  after  he  was  fourteen 
years  of  age.  His  uncle  tried  to  have  him  go  but  as  he  was 
working  for  $20  per  month  he  did  not  think  he  could  afford 
to  go  as  he  worked  on  his  uncle's  farm,  which  joined  Prairie 
City. 

In  1871  after  the  great  Chicago  fire,  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen, he  got  a  job  on  the  night  police  force  in  Chicago  for 
six  months. 

He  can  relate  many  thrilling  scenes  and  episodes  that 
occurred  during  his  sojourn  in  Chicago.  His  uncle,  think- 
ing it  was  a  poor  place  for  a  young  man  to  live,  sent  for 
him  to  come  to  Prairie  City,  and  learn  the  tinner's  trade 
and  do  the  work  for  his  hardware  store.  Young  Barnes 
gladly  accepted  the  offer.  His  uncle  took  great  interest  in 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  363 

his  welfare,  and  was  all  to  him  that  a  father  could  have 
been. 

Lon  had  now  arrived  at  the  age  of  twenty-four  and  began 
to  think  himself  a  man,  and  that  he  ought  to  do  as  his  father 
and  grandfather  had  done — get  himself  a  wife. 

Being  on  a  visit  to  some  relatives  in  Mason  county  he 
wooed  and  wed  Miss  Sarah  E.  Bowser  ^n  November,  1876, 
but  still  worked  in  Prairie  City  for  one  year  at  his  trade. 

He  then  moved  to  Mason  county,  where  he  now  lives, 
on  a  farm  of  one  hundred  acres  of  fine  land  to  which  he 
has  added  two  hundred  and  twenty  acres,  having  bought 
the  Walker  farm  which  joins  Forest  City.  His  farm  now 
consists  of  three  hundred  and  twenty  acres  and  could  not 
be  bought  for  less  than  $100  per  acre.  It  is  well  divided 
into  small  fields  and  is  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation.  It  is 
well  stocked;  we  suppose  he  has  thirty  head  of  horses  of 
all  ages,  and  machinery  enough  to  start  an  agricultural  store. 
He  is  always  on  the  lookout  for  the  best  machines  adapted 
to  farming  and  keeps  them  well  housed  and  in  good  order. 

Mr.  Barnes  is  now  in  the  prime  of  manhood  and  well 
deserves  the  name  of  hustler.  He  does  not  say  "go  boys/' 
but  "come  boys." 

He  is  very  public  spirited  and  it  always  ready  to  do 
more  than  his  part.  He  takes  an  active  part  in  School  Dis- 
trict No.  i  and  also  in  the  M.  E.  Church  in  Forest  City, 
though  not  a  member  takes  a  great  interest  in  its  welfare. 
For  a-  number  of  years  he  has  been  chorister,  and  his  place 
is  seldom  vacant. 

He  is  very  decided  in  his  opinions  on  all  questions  both 
in  church  and  state,  and  free  to  express  an  opinion.  We 
think  he  can  visit  the  World's  Fair  and  see  more,  and  ask 
more  questions  in  the  same  length  of  time  than  any  man  in 
the  township.  Mr.  Barnes  has  a  large  heart  and  is  ever 
ready  to  assist  the  sick  and  needy  and  would  take  all  his 
teams  out  of  the  field  to  attend  a  funeral. 


364 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


Mr.  Barnes  has  had  six  children  born  in  his  home.  Miss 
Hattie,  the  eldest,  is  a  young  lady  just  blooming  into  woman- 
hood, two  boys  and  one  girl  have  gone 

"Where  flowers  forever  bloom 
And  the  fields  are  eternally  fair." 

He  is  well  posted  on  all  public  affairs,  both  church  and 
state  and  ready  to  work  for  the  moral  improvement  of  the 
community. 


CHAPTER   XL. 


THE  EARLY  SETTLEMENT  OF  HAVANA 

MONG  the  early  settlers  in  the  town  of  Havana 
was  that  of  Asa  Langford  who  came  from  the 
southern  part  of  Illinois  and  first  settled  in 
Lewistown  in  the  year  1829,  and  in  1830  be- 
came a  resident  of  Havana.  He  was  a  large  fine  looking 
man,  about  six  feet  three  inches  in  height,  and  would  weigh 
two  hundred  pounds.  He  was  a  man  of  great  energy  and 
perseverance  and  commanded  a  great  influence  among  his 
fellow  men.  He  was  a  Democrat  and  a  strong  supporter 
of  Andrew  Jackson  and  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party. 
After  living  at  Havana  about  a  year  he  purchased  about  one 
half  of  the  town  of  Waterford  and  moved  to  that  place.  He 
was  a  keen,  shrewd  business -man  and  always  ready  for  a 
trade.  Although  he  had  never  had  the  advantage  of  an  educa- 
tion there  were  but  few  men  that  could  excel  him  in  a  busi- 
ness capacity,  for  when  he  was  married  he  could  neither  read 
nor  write  his  own  name,  but  his  wife  was  a  lady  of  fair 
education  for  those  times,  and  she  taught  him  to  read  and  to 
write  his  own  name  in  a  good  legible  style.  He  received 
the  appointment  of  postmaster  of  Waterford,  and  with  his 
wife's  assistance  he  got  along  with  it  very  well.  In  1837 
he  built  a  flat  boat  at  Waterford  and  loaded  it  with  pork, 
grain  and  produce  of  different  kinds  and  ran  it  down  to 
New  Orleans.  He  told  the  people  before  he  left  with  his 
flat  boat  that  he  expected  to  trade  a  part  of  his  Waterford 


366  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

town  lots  for  a  steamboat  before  he  returned,  but  was 
laughed  at  by  his  friends,  for  they  'believing  that  such  a 
thing  as  trading  Waterford  town  lots  for  a  steamboat  would 
be  impossible,  but  Langfqrd  had  the  faith  that  he  could 
accomplish  almost  anything  that  he  undertook.  So  he  had  a 
plat  of  the  town  of  Waterford  made  out  and  a  copy  of  the 
records  made  out  showing  that  he  was  the  legal  owner  of 
the  property,  all  of  which  he  took  with  him  to  New  Orleans, 
and  after  disposing  of  his  cargo  of  produce  and  his  flat  boat 
he  and  his  flat  boat  crew  wrent  to  a  clothing  store  and  all 
fitted  themselves  out  with  a  new  suit  of  clothes,  for  Lang- 
ford,  when  well  dressed,  was  a  noble  looking  man  and  a 
fluent  talker,  and  would  make  friends  where  many  others 
would  fail.  He  and  his  men  traveled  up  and  down  the 
wharf  at  New  Orleans  and  visited  many  steamboats  and 
made  the  acquaintance  of  the  captains  and  told  them  that 
his  business  was  to  purchase  a  small  steamboat  for  use  as  a 
packet  for  the  Illinois  river  trade.  He  left  his  address  and 
the  name  of  the  hotel  that  he  was  stopping  at  and  in  a  few 
days  a  gentleman  called  to  see  him  that  owned  a  steamboat  v 
called  the  Navigator,  which  was  for  sale.  It  was  a  one 
decked  boat  that  had  been  running  in  the  Arkansas  river 
in  the  cotton  trade.  It  was  a  strong,  well  built  boat  and  a 
fast  runner,  and  his  price  for  it  was  four  thousand  dollars. 
Mr.  Langford  examined  the  boat  and  was  satisfied  with  the 
price.  Mr.  Langford  then  told  him  that  he  did  not  have 
the  money  to  pay  down  for  the  boat,  but  that  he  had  some 
valuable  town  property  that  he  would  let  him  have  that  in 
all  probability  would  be  better  to  him  than  the  money. 
He  then  showed  him  the  town  plat  of  the  town  of  Water- 
ford,  describing  to  him  that  it  was  laid  cmt  on  the  bank  of 
Spoon  river,  at  the  head  of  steamboat  navigation;  that  it 
was  in  Fulton  county,  Illinois,  the  best  county  in  the  state, 
and  surrounded  by  a  rich  and  fertile  county,  and  would, 
in  all  probability,  in  a  few  years  become  a  large  commer- 
cial city,  something  like  those  of  Peoria  and  Chicago. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  367 

The  men  that  he  took  with  him  on  the  flat  boat  were 
from  Waterford  and  were  on  hand  to  testify  to  all  that  he 
had  told  about  the  town  of  Waterford.  So  the  owner  of 
the  boat  got  a  lawyer  to  examine  Langford's  title  papers 
and  found  that  they  were  all  correct  and  the  trade  was  made. 
Mr.  Langford  having  marked  the  price  of  each  lot  on  the 
town  plat,  all  the  man  that  sold  the  boat  had  to  do  was  to  se- 
lect enough  of  the  lots  to  come  to  four  thousand  dollars  and 
the  title  papers  were  passed  between  them  and  the  Navigator 
was  turned  over  to  Langford  and  he  started  up  the  Mississip- 
pi with  her.  When  he  got  to  St.  Louis  he  sent  word  to  his 
friends  that  the  Navigator  would  be  at  Havana  on  a  cer- 
tain day,  and  when  she  arrived  there  a  large  crowd  had 
gathered  there  to  welcome  him  and  a  jolly  good  time  they 
had.  When  Mr.  Langford  traded  his  Waterford  lots  for 
the  steamboat  he  told  the  man  that  he  traded  with,  that 
Spoon  river  was  navigable  for  steamboats  as  far  up  as 
Waterford,  although  steamboats  had  never  yet  run  up  that 
far,  so  to  make  his  word  good  he  determined  to  run  the 
Navigator  up  that  far  and  so  he  did,  but  it  was  the  first 
attempt  that  was  ever  made  to  run  a  steamboat  up  that  .far. 
The  river  happened  to  be  in  a  good  stage  of  water  at  the 
time  and  before  the  boat  got  to  Waterford  eight  or  ten 
leaning  trees  that  leaned  over  the  river  had  to  be  cut  down> 
and  much  drift  wood  that  had  closed  up  a  portion  of 
the  channel  of  the  river  had  to  be  cleared  away,  and  it  took 
him  two  days  to  make  the  trip,  but  he  did  take  her  up  and 
tied  up  to  a  tree  in  Waterford,  and  great  crowds  of  people 
came  to  see  the  Navigator. 

After  Captain  Langford  had  run  the  .boat  between  St. 
Louis  and  Peoria  for  a  number  of  months,  he  offered  to 
sell  her  for  three  thousands  dollars,  so  C".  W.  Andrews, 
N.  J.  Rockwell,  L.  W.  Ross  and  H.  L.  Ross  purchased  her 
at  that  price  and  C.  W.  Andrews  was  the  captain,  H.  L. 
Ross  clerk,  Asa  Langford  pilot,  and  Alexander  Stewart 
was  mate.  When  Asa  Langford  purchased  the  Navigator 


368  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

at  New  Orleans  he  found  a  young  Irishman  on  board  of 
her  who  had  been  running  on  her  as  mate  whose  name  was 
Alexander  Stewart.  He  took  a  liking  to  Langford  and 
wanted  to  continue  on  the  boat  in  the  capacity  of  mate, 
which  he  did  and  brought  him  to  Havana  and  he  continued 
to  act  as  mate  on  the  Navigator  until  she  was  sold  to  some 
parties  in  Beardstown. 

Mr.  Alexander  Stewart  afterward  became  one  of  the 
principal  business  men  and  property  owners  of  Havana. 

I  will  relate  a  little  circumstance  that  took  place  while 
we  were  running  the  steamboat  Navigator.  The  boat  had 
made  a  trip  from  St.  Louis  to  Peoria  and  on  her  return 
down  the  river  there  came  up  a  terrible  storm  and  the 
rain  came  down  in  torrents.  It  was  in  the  night  and  the 
night  was  so  dark  that  an  object  could  not  be  discerned 
five  rods  ahead  of  the  boat  and  as  we  were  passing  what 
was  then  called  Sharp's  Landing,  some  sixteen  miles  below 
Havana,  Asa  Langford  was  the  pilot  at  the  wheel  and 
Alexander  Stewart  was  standing  watch,  we  came  into 
sudden  collision  with  another  steamboat  called  the  Cold- 
water,  which  was  coming  up  the  river.  The  two  boats  came 
together  with  a  terrible  crash,  breaking  in  the  guards  and 
the  upper  decks  of  the  boats  and  knocking  overboard  the 
large  anchor  of  the  Navigator.  A  number  of  passengers 
were  on  board,  with  several  ladies,  and  a  terrible  commo- 
tion took  place,  but  Langford  and  Stewart  stood  nobly 
and  bravely  to  their  posts  of  duty  and  no  one  was  hurt. 


AN  INDIAN  BATTLE  AT  HAVANA 

In  1826  a  battle  occurred  at  Havana  at  Ross'  ferry.  The 
Indians  were  victorious  in  the  fight.  The  true  history  of  the 
fight  is  as  follows : 

Samuel  Mallory  and  his  stepson  had  rented  the  ferry  of 
O.  M.  Ross.  They  were  both  settlers  of  Fulton  county. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  369 

This  was  before  the  tavern  was  built.  Mallory  was  the 
father  of  Hiram  Sander's  wife  and  the  grandfather  of 
Mrs.  Judge  H.  L.  Bryant.  A  few  years  later  they  settled 
eight  miles  south  of  Canton  in  the  direction  of  Lewistown. 
After  they  had  been  at  Havana  a  few  weeks  they  received 
by  keel  boat  a  barrel  of  whisky  from  St.  Louis,  as  then  they 
were  expected  to  keep  liquor  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
traveling  public.  In  fact  the  merchants  in  the  country  kept 
whisky  the  same  as  any  other  kind  of  goods. 

A  party  of  Indians  were  traveling  up  the  Illinois  river 
in  canoes  and  camped  a  half  mile  above  the  ferry.  They 
came  down  to  trade  some  furs  for  whisky,  as  they  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  doing  with  the  Scoville's,  but  Mallory 
refused  to  let  them  have  any  whisky.  As  he  was  alone 
they  drew  their  tomahawks  and  compelled  him  to  give  them 
whisky.  Wm.  Nichols,  who  had  been  working  in  the  woods 
came  home  and  seeing  the  situation  Mallory  was  in,  slipped 
away  and  got  a  canoe  and  went  across  the  mouth  of  Spoon 
river  to  where  the  keel  boat  was  lying,  but  part  of  the  boat's 
crew  had  started  for  Lewistown.  He  soon  overtook  them 
and  told  them  the  situation  Mallory  was  in;  so  each  one  of 
them  cut  a  stout  hickory  cane  and  went  back  to  rescue  Mal- 
lory. They  found  that  some  twenty-five  Indians  had  Mal- 
lory completely  under  their  control.  Some  of  them  were 
pretty  drunk  and  were  all  having  a  jolly  time  except  Mal- 
lory. The  white  men  ordered  the  Indians  to  leave  but  they 
refused  to  go  and  then  the  fight  commenced,  the  white  men 
using  their  hickory  clubs  on  the  heads  of  the  Indians.  But 
the  Indians  were  about  four  to  one  and  they  succeeded 
in  getting  the  clubs  away  from  the  white  men.  It  was  a 
pretty  hard  fight  for  a  half  hour  and  the  whites  would 
have  probably  whipped  the  Indians,  but  while  they  were  in 
the  fight  they  saw  some  squaws  coming  from  the  canoes 
with  Indian  spears  and  tomahawks  for  the  use  of  the  In- 
dians; then  the  whites  thought  it  was  time  to  retreat  and 
get  more  help.  As  they  were  running  to  the  ferry  boat 


L'4 


370  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

they  discovered  Simon  Kelsey  and  a  couple  of  Indians  hav- 
ing a  hard  fight  near  the  river,  and  in  attempting  to  capture 
the  Indians  one  of  them  ran  into  the  river  and  they  took  after 
him  with  the  boat,  and  when  they  would  get  near  him  he 
would  dive  under  the  boat  and  come  up  a  rod  behind  the 
boat  and  would  make  for  the  shore.  The  white  men  would 
then  have  to  turn  their  boat  and  go  after  him  again  and 
he  would  play  the  same  game  of  dodging  them.  They  kept 
up  this  for  a  half  an  hour,  and  when  they  came  upon  him 
they  could  see  tfis  head  two  feet  under  the  water.  One  of 
the  men  ran  his  arm  down  and  caught  him  by  the  hair, 
and  as  he  drew  his  head  over  the  side  of  the  boat  another 
man  drew  his  knife  and  cut  the  Indian's  throat  and  left  him 
to  sink  in  the  river.  The  men  returned  to  the  keel  boat 
and  William  Nichols  started  to  Lewistown  for  more  men 
to  fight  the  Indians.  He  got  there  after  dark  and  raised 
the  alarm,  and  next  morning  fifteen  men  on  horseback 
started  for  the  battlefield.  The  company  raised  at  Lewis- 
town  were  each  armed  with  guns.  When  they  got  to  the 
river  at  Havana  they  were  joined  by  the  crew  of  the  keel 
boat  that  had  the  fight  with  the  Indians  the  day  before, 
with  the  exception  of  Kelsey,  who  had  been  badly  used 
up  the  day  before  and  was  not  able  to  go  with  them. 
The  men  all  got  on  the  ferry  boat  and  took  as  many  horses 
as  they  could  crowd  on  the  boat  and  started  across  the  river. 
Some  squaws  a  little  way  down  the  river  saw  the  men 
coming  and  ran  and  told  the  Indians  that  a  great  com- 
pany of  white  men  were  coming  with  guns.  The  Indians 
took  alarm  and  started  to  run.  Some  went  to  their  canoes 
and  started  up  the  river ;  some  ran  to  the  woods.  The  men 
followed  the  Indians  that  ran  to  the  woods  until  they  got  in 
the  swamp  a  few  miles  up  the  Quiver  Lake  and  had  to  give 
up  the  chase.  The  company  came  back  to  Havana  to  Mai- 
lory's,  where  the  fight  had  taken  place  the  day  before. 
They  found  some  pools  of  blood  and  a  short  distance  two 
newly-made  graves,  showing  that  the  fight  had  been  a  hard 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  371 

one  and  that  two  Indians  had  been  killed  with  clubs,  be- 
sides the  one  whose  throat  had  been  cut  on  the  ferry  boat. 
They  also  found  that  eight  or  ten  gallons  had  been  taken 
from  Mallory's  whisky  barrel  and  that  his  household  goods 
had  not  been  touched.     So  ended  the  Indian  fight  at  Ross' 
ferry.     After  that  time,  Mallory  and  Nichols  kept  the  ferry 
for  a  year  and  never  had  any  more  trouble  with  the  Indians. 
O.  M.  Ross  then  moved  to  Havana  and  took  charge  of  the 
ferry  himself.     The  Indian  that  had  his  throat  cut  floated 
down  the  river  and  landed  in  some  driftwood  at  the  head 
of  an  island  three  miles  below   Havana.     There   was   at 
that  time  a  man  by  the  name  of  John  Hemford,  who  wras 
long  a  resident  of  Bernadette.       One  Sunday  John  went 
down  to  the  island  and  brought  up  the  skull  and  jawbone. 
Harvey  Ross  decided  that  he  could  have  lots  of   fun  in 
frightening   the   Indians   who   were   superstitious.       After 
thoroughly  cleaning  the  skull  and  jawbone  he  fastened  it 
on  a  stick  about   four   feet  long,   the  lower  end  to  stick 
in  the  ground.     He  put  into  it  a  lighted  candle*.     When  the 
scarecrow  was  set  up  on  a  dark  night  with  the  candle  lighted 
it  was  certainly  the  most  horrible  object  mortal  eyes  ever 
beheld.     About  a  mile  above  Havana  there  were  eighteen 
or  twenty  wigwams  of  Indians.     They  were  in  the  habit 
of  coming  to  Havana  every  week  to  do  some  trading  and 
would  frequently  stay  until  after  dark  before  starting  home. 
Harvey  knew  the  path  they  traveled  and  would  have  the 
skull  set  up  a  few  rods  from  their  path.     When  they  would 
discover  it  they  would  run  as  fast  as  their  legs  would  carry 
them  and  frightened  nearly  to  death.    It  made  a  great  com- 
motion among  the  Indians  for  awhile,  but  Harvey's  father 
found  out  what  was  going  on  and  put  a  stop  to  Harvey's 
fun.     One  day  a  steamboat  landed  at  Havana  and  Harvey 
went  down  and  sold  it  to  the  poilot  for  $2.    The  outfit  put  it 
on  the  bow  of  the  boat  at  night  to  scare  the  natives  along 
the  river.     Soon  after,  O.  M.  Ross  went  to  Havana.     He 
built  three  warehouses,  one  on  the  east  side  of  the  river 


372  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

and  two  on  the  west  side.  One  was  north  of  Schoonovers'' 
and  one  on  the  south  side.  They  were  built  of  logs  and 
were  used  to  store  the  produce  of  the  farmers  who  lived 
on  both  sides  of  the  river.  The  upper  part  of  the  ware- 
house on  the  Havana  side  of  the  river  he  finished  off  for 
a  store  and  opened  up  a  stock  of  goods.  The  nearest  store 
on  the  west  of  him  was  at  Lewistown,  twelve  miles  west, 
and  New  Salem,  twenty-five  miles  on  south.  The  Phelp's 
had  a  trading  fort  nine  miles,  on  Grand  Island,  below  Ha- 
vana. Ross  had  a  large  trade  with  the  Indians,  for  they 
were  scattered  all  over  the  country,  up  and  down  the  Illi- 
nois river,  and  both  sides  of  the  Spoon  river.  These  wig- 
wams could  be  counted  by  the  hundreds.  About  the  mouth 
of  Spoon  river  was  a  great  resort  for  them.  Indian  ponies, 
hundreds  of  them,  would  be  brought  every  fall  to  feed  on 
the  grass  that  kept  green  all  winter,  and  if  there  was  a 
deep  snow  the  Indians  would  chop  down  small  trees  for 
these  ponies  to  browse  on  till  the  snow  went  off.  Ross 
would  often  sell  them  goods  on  credit  for  six  months,  but 
would  require  a  recommendation  of  some  of  their  chiefs 
which  made  them  very  punctual  in  paying  their  debts.  The 
Indians  \vere  very  numerous  in  all  this  country,  until  1832, 
when  the  Blackhawk  war  broke  out  and  they  all  went  west. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 


THE  OLD  HAVANA  HOTEL 


THINK  a  description  of  the  first  hotel  in  Ha- 
vana would  interest  young  and  old.  It  stood 
till  1850.  I  recollect  of  being  there  one  Sun- 
day evening  with  James  Covington  until  12 
o'clock  at  night.  Old  man  Brown  was  then  keeping  the 
hotel.  Brown  had  some  girls  which  I  presume  was  the 
reason  that  we  were  there.  The  next  morning  the  hotel 
went  up  in  flames.  I  don't  know  whether  Covington  and 
myself  were  ever  charged  with  setting  it  on  fire  or  not,  but 
we  were  there  a  short  time  before  it  burned.  Old  settlers 
will  remember  the  old  tavern. 

I  got  possession  of  a  copy  of  a  book  published  by  Harvey 
L.  Ross,  who  moved  to  Los  Angeles,  Cal.,  about  twenty-five  • 
years  ago,  in  which  he  gives  a  description  of  the  early  set- 
tlement of  Lewistown  and  Havana  and  the  building  of  the 
hotel  and  the  trouble  in  getting  the  material  on  the  ground. 
It  will  interest  the  younger  generation  of  today  to  know 
something  of  the  hardships  the  old  pioneers  had  to  endure 
a.nd  what  fortitude  they  endured — what  they  undertook. 
It  was  certainly  a  great  undertaking  to  build  such  a  house 
at  that  time. 

* 

There  was  no  pine  lumber  nearer  than  Cincinnati  and 
the  few  saw  mills  at  that  time  had  been  erected  on  small 
streams  in  Fulton  county,  therefore  most  of  the  lumber  used 
in  the  hotel  was  sawed  by  hand  with  a  whip  saw. 


374  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

When  the  building  was  completed  it  was  in  all  prob- 
ability the  largest  building  in  Central  Illinois  and  cost  more 
than  any  other  building  in  the  state. 

The  building  was  commenced  late  in  1831  and  finished 
in  1833.  It  combined  hotel  and  store  and  was  eighty  feet 
long  and  thirty  feet  wide,  with  upper  and  lower  story 
porches  ten  feet  wide  on  each  side  of  the  house.  The 
main  part  of  the  hotel  was  four  stories  high  and  the  store 
part  two  ancLa  half  stories  high.  The  first  story  was  built 
of  stone  twelve  inches  thick  and  also  a  floor  of  stone,  the 
balance  of  the  building  was  wood. 

There  were  two  large  chimney's  with  three  fire  places 
opening  into  one  and  four  in  the  other.  All  the  lumber, 
stone  and  lime  used  in  building  the  house  was  brought  from 
Fulton  county.  The  sills,  posts  and  joists  .and  other  large 
timbers  were  cut  and  hewn  in  the  woods. 

The  stone  was  taken  out  of  a  hill  in  Liverpool  town- 
ship and  carried  by  boat  down  the  river  to  Havana.  The 
lime  wras  burned  in  the  same  township  by  Zenos  Hening- 
ton  and  hauled  in  a  truck  wheeled  \vagon  to  Havana  by 
two  yoke  of  oxen.  There  was  not  a  particle  of  iron  used  in 
the  construction  of  the  wagon.  The  wheels  and  every  part 
were  wholly  of  wood. 

Mr.  Henington  had  no  need  to  call  for  the  ferry  boat 
when  he  came  to  Havana  for  the  ferryman  could  hear  the 
creaking  of  the  wagon  a  half  a  mile  away. 

The  timber  used  in  building  the  hotel  was  white  oak, 
ash,  black  and  white  walnut.  The  weather-boarding  and 
shingles  were  split  out  of  white  oak  timber  and  shaved  to 
a  proper  thickness  with  a  drawing  knife.  The  weather- 
boarding  was  four  feet  long  and  the  shingles  twenty-eight 
inches.  The  laths  were  split  out  in  the  woods  and  all  the 
doors,  window  sashes  and  mouldings  were  made  by  hand. 

The  weather-boarding  and  shingles  were  made  near 
Lewistown  by  Jonathan  Cadwalader  and  his  sons,  Issac  and 
John.  They  were  Quakers.  The  carpenter  work  was  done 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  375 

by  Moses  Lewis  and  Alex  Freeman  and  Isaac  and  Jesse 
Benson.  The  mason  work  was  done  by  Ben  Hartlan  and 
the  painting  by  Andrew  Mayfield. 

Their  names  are  mentioned  because  they  were  old  set- 
tlers and  their  descendants  are  still  living.  About  twenty- 
five  years  the  big  hotel  and  store  was  destroyed  by  fire 
and  there  was  no  insurance.  Walker  and  Hancock  kept  the 
first  store  there  and  Hunt  and  McEndree  were  in  the  house 
when  it  burned. 

Ossian  Ross  kept  the  store  and  ran  the  hotel  up  to  the 
time  of  his  death  in  1837.  His  \vife  and  Lewis  adminis- 
tered on  the  estate.  His  stock  of  goods  and  personal  prop- 
erty was  appraised  at  $9,000  and  the  sale  amounted  to 
$10,000. 

After  the  family  moved  back  to  Canton  in  1840  Har- 
vey L.  Ross,  having  married,  took  charge  of  the  hotel  and 
ferry  and  ran  them  for  three  years. 

There  was  no  court  house  at  that  time  in  the  county  and 
so  court  was  held  in  the  bar  room  and  some  other  rooms 
were  used  for  jury  rooms.  It  was  there  that  such  men  as 
Abraham  Lincoln,  John  J.  Hardin,  Ed.  Baker,  H.  M.  Weed, 
W.  C.  Goudy  and  J.  Boice  attended  the  courts  and  took 
part  in  pioneer  law  suits.  At  one  time  of  court  Gen.  Hardin 
had  a  narrow  escape  from  death.  He  was  very  fond  of 
hunting  and  went  out  one  morning  to  try  his  luck  for  deer. 
At  that  time  there  were  plenty  along  the  Illinois  river.  He 
did  not  have  to  travel  far  until  he  saw  a  deer  and  drew  up 
his  gun  and  fired  at  it,  but  instead  of  killing  the  deer  the 
breech  pin  flew  out  of  his  gun  and  struck  him  in  the  face 
making  a  terrible  wound.  It  was  several  days  before  he 
could  be  taken  home  and  he  carried  the  scar  until  his  death. 

Mr.  Lincoln  never  appeared  to  care  very  much  about 
hunting  and  seldom  engaged  in  that  sport.  His  chief 
amusement  and  delight  was  in  telling  stories  and  anecdotes. 
In  the  role  of  story  telling  I  never  knew  his  equal.  His 


376  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

power  of  mimicry  was  very  great.  He  could  perfectly  mimic 
a  Dutchman,  Irishman  or  Negro. 

In  the  evening  after  court  had  adjourned  a  great  crowd 
would  gather  around  Lincoln  in  the  bar  room  to  listen  to 
Lincoln's  stories  and  he  seemed  to  enjoy  to  the  utmost,  the 
peals  of  laughter  that  would  fill  the  house.  I  have  heard 
men  say  that  they  had  laughed  at  his  stories  until  they  had 
almost  shaken  their  ribs  loose. 

I  heard  ofj:ases  where  men  have  been  suffering  for  years 
with  some  bodily  ailments  and  could  get  no  relief  but  who 
have  gone  a  couple  of  evenings  and  listened  to  Lincoln  and 
laughed  their  ailments  a\vay  and  became  hale  and  hearty 
men,  giving  Lincoln  credit  of  being  their  healer. 

It  was  during  the  time  that  my  father  was  building  the 
Havana  hotel  that  he  had  a  two  hundred  acre  farm  fenced 
and  improved  just  east  of  Havana  and  which  is  now  in  the* 
corporate  limits  of  Havana. 

The  rails  having  been  made  on  the  banks  of  Spoon  river 
and  boated  down  that  river  and  across  the  Illinois. 

In  1833  during  the  Blackhawk  war  when  so  many  peo- 
ple were  leaving  the  military  tract  for  fear  of  the  Indians  he 
put  his  whole  force  at  work  and  built  a  fort  or  block  house 
at  Havana  to  be  a  'refuge  for  the  white  settlers.  The  effect 
was  to  stop  the  ruinous  stampede  of  people  from  Fulton 
•  county. 

Gen.  L.  F.  Ross  thinks  there  were  three  block  houses 
built  instead  of  one;  one  on  each  side  of  the  hotel  and  one 
on  the  west  side  and  north  of  Spoon  river. 

On  the  road  to  Lewistown  Gen.  Ross  says  that  the  people 
of  Fulton  helped  to  build  those  houses.  The  mouth  of  Spoon 
river  was  then  directly  opposite  Havana  and  the  ferry  ran 
to  the  upper  side  of  Spoon  river. 

The  large  hotel  stood  on  the  south  side  of  Market  street 
on  the  edge  of  a  high  bluff  overlooking  the  river.  The  bluff 
has  been  cut  down  and  the  site  of  the  hotel  is  now  vacant. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  377 

THE  EARLY  SETTLEMENT  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

When  the  first  settlement  was  made  in  what  is  known  as 
Mason  county  the  settlers  found  that  the  Indians  had  pre- 
ceded them  and  had  erected  their  wigwams  in  many  places 
and  were  cultivating  the  lands  in  small  patches,  growing 
corn,  beans,  potatoes,  squashes  and  many  other  kinds  of 
vegetables.  Their  settlements  were  mostly  along  the  Illinois 
river,  and  on  Quiver  and  Crane  Creek.  The  squaws  usually 
cultivated  the  gardens,  and  the  Indians  followed  hunting  and 
fishing.  They  raised  a  great  many  horses  and  that  was  the 
only  kind  of  stock  they  raised. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  they  would  gather  large  quantities 
of  hickory  nuts  and  pecans  which  were  very  abundant  in 
that  early  day.  These  they  would  sell  to  the  merchants  of 
the  towns,  or  sometimes  take  them  to  St.  Louis  in  their 
canoes  to  sell.  The  Indians  were  inclined  to  be  friendly  when 
kindly  treated,  unless  they  were  intoxicated.  Then  some- 
times they  would  be  ugly  and  would  claim  that  the  country 
still  belonged  to  them,  and  that  their  ancestors  first  settled 
the  country,  and  that  their  head  men  had  never  sold  it,  and 
that  the  Indians,  whom  the  white  people  claimed  they  had 
bought  the  land  from,  were  not  the  chiefs  nor  the  head  men 
of  the  nation,  and  had  no  right  to  sell  it.  And  besides  the 
great  white  chief,  the  president,  had  never  paid  the  Indians 
for  the  land. 

When  the  Blackhawk  war  broke  out  in  1832  the  Patto- 
\vatomie  Indians  that  lived  in  that  part  of  the  country  went 
up  north  to  the  Rock  river  country  and  many  of  them  joined 
the  Indians  under  Black  Hawk  and  soon  after  that  hostilities 
broke  out  in  that  part  of  the  country.  A  company  of  twenty 
men  that  was  out  as  scouts  were  surrounded  by  the  Indians 
and  all  killed.  Immediately  after  the  Indians  made  a  raid 
on  a  small  settlement  on  Indian  creek,  near  Rock  river. 
Three  families  by  the  name  of  Davis,  Hill  and  Pettigrew, 
were  attacked  in  the  day  time  and  all  massacred  except  two 


3/8  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

young  ladies  whom  they  took  prisoners.  The  Indians  after- 
wards related  how  the  ladies  squawked  like  geese.  All  the 
victims  were  scalped.  One  man's  head  was  cut  off  and  stuck 
on  a  pole  beside  the  river. 

The  women  and  children  were  tied  up  to  the  joists  of  the 
house  by  their  feet,  and  the  two  young  ladies  that  were  taken 
prisoners  were  tied  upon  horses  and  taken  in  great  haste  a 
long  way  into  the  wilderness.  Two  of  the  young  braves 
claimed  thern  and  intended  to  have  them  as  their  squaws 
or  wives,  but  were  afterwards  released  on  the  receipt  of  two 
thousand  dollars.  There  were  other  circumstances  that  took 
place  in  those  times  that  caused  great  excitement  and  alarmed 
the  people  of  Mason  county.  One  was  called  Stillman's  de- 
feat or  Stillman's  run.  It  was  a  fight  Stillman  had  with  the 
Indians  in  the  Rock  creek  river  country  northwest  of  Peoria 
in  which  Stillman  was  defeated  and  lost  thirteen  of  his  men 
killed  and  a  number  wounded.  Most  of  them  were  residents 
of  Fulton  county. 

Another  circumstance  took  place,  Waterfield's  defeat, 
which  occasioned  a  general  stampede  of  the  people  living  m 
the  north  part  of  Fulton  county.  They  believing  that  an  at- 
tack had  been  made  by  the  Indians  in  the  settlement  west  of 
Canton  on  which  rumor  hundreds  of  people  left  their  homes 
and  crossed  the  Illinois  river  at  Havana.  These  circum- 
stances caused  the  citizens  of  Havana  and  surrounding  coun- 
try much  alarm.  They  believed  that  many  of  the  Indians 
that  had  lived  in  that  vicinity  and  had  gone  to  the  Rock  river 
country  had  taken  part  in  those  massacres  and  as  they  knew 
all  the  country  around  Havana  so  well  that  they  would  go 
to  Peoria  and  take  possession  of  the  ferry  boats  and  what 
crafts  they  could  find  and  come  down  the  Illinois  river  and 
make  an  attack  on  the  people  and  try  to  recover  their  old 
home  where  they  had  lived  so  many  years  and  where  their 
ancestors  had  been  buried.  The  alarm  was  great  and  the 
people  determined  that  they  would  build  a  couple  of  forts 
or  block  houses  as  they  were  called.  These  block  houses 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  379 

were  built  of  logs.  One  was  built  on  the  bluff  near  the  ferry 
landing-,  northwest  of  the  Havana  hotel.  This  block  house 
was  25x30  feet  in  size  and  two  stories  high  and  was  built 
so  that  the  upper  story  projected  over  the  lower  story  two 
feet.  Port  holes  were  made  in  both  stories  for  the  use  of 
their  muskets  and  rifles.  The  only  floor  was  in  the  upper 
story,  and  the  entrance  to  the  same  was  by  a  ladder  which 
was  drawn  in  by  night.  The  other  block  house  was  built 
south  of  the  hotel  on  a  high  knoll.  This  was  twenty  feet 
square,  two  stories  high,  the  upper  story  was  covered  with 
plank  sufficiently  heavy  to  bear  up  the  weight  of  a  cannon 
and  commanded  a  range  of  a  mile  or  so. 

Up  and  down  the  river  a  great  many  people  that  had  fled 
from  counties  west  of  the  river  would  stop  at  Havana  and  go 
into  these  block  houses  during  the  night  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  a  great  many  people,  would  have  left  the  country 
if  those  block  houses  had  not  been  built. 

The  block  house  north  of  the  hotel  was  still  standing  in 
1846  when  I  first  came  to  Havana.  The  people  now  living 
in  Havana  have  but  little  idea  of  the  privation  that  the  early 
settler  endured  and  the  suspense  and  excitement  they  had  to 
undergo  while  in  constant  fear  ol  the  Indians.  Yet  most  of 
the  Indians  were  disposed  to  keep  their  treaties  with  the 
whites  and  most  of  the  trouble  occurred  from  the  overbear- 
ing conduct  of  the  "pale  faces." 


SPRING  LAKE 

The  ancient  village  that  stood  on  the  bluffs  of  the  Illinois 
river  on  the  dividing  line  between  Mason  and  Tazewell  coun- 
ties, one  so  full  of  life  and  traffic,  the  emporium  of  trade, 
has  gone  the  way  of  all  the  earth  like  the  ancient  Babylon  or 
Salem,  and  exists  only  in  the  memory  of  the  old  inhabitants. 
I  first  saw  the  village  in  1852.  There  was  a  sawmill  in  the 
bottoms  on  the  stream  that  ran  from  the  pike  holes  to  the 


380  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

river.  There  was  a  warehouse  on  the  river  kept  by  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Conant  in  which  the  grain  was  hauled  when  the 
river  was  low  and  the  roads  were  good.  Perhaps  100,000 
tons  of  corn  and  wheat  were  marketed  fro"m  Spring  Lake. 
It  drained  the  grain  from  Egypt  on  the  east,  from  Mackinaw 
on  the  north,  from  Red  Oak  and  Crane  Lake  on  the  south. 
The  wheat  was  hauled  in  sacks  furnished  by  the  grain  mer- 
chants and  the  corn  was  in  gunny  sacks.  Grain  from  the 
west,  came  from  Tight  Row  and  Devils  Neck.  More  than 
half  of  the  grain  was  hauled  with  ox  teams. 

The  roads  were  very  sandy  and  fifty  bushels  was  a  great 
load  for  two  or  three  yoke  of  oxen  and  it  took  a  day  to  make 
a  trip.  Of  course  the  teamster  would  hook  a  load  of  wood 
as  he  returned  home  which  was  very  plenty  after  the  cyclones 
had  cut  wide  swaths  through  the  Long  Point  lumber.  A 
warehouse  had  been  started  at  Spring  Lake  by  Pratt  &  Moore 
under  the  hill  and  a  Tobogan  slide  had  been  built  from  the 
top  of  the  hill  down  to  it,  of  plank  three  feet  wide  with  side- 
boards. A  gunny  sack  would  be  started  down  at  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees.  A  boy  would  ride  the  sacks  of  corn 
down  the  slide  into  the  warehouse  at  railroad  speed.  It  was 
fun  for  the  boy,  but  dangerous.  As  the  slide  had  several 
turns  to  make,  and  sometimes  the  boy  and  sack  would  jump 
the  track  and  land  outside  the  warehouse.  There  were  three 
expert  ox  drivers,  Lige  Davis,  Frank  Pemberton  and  John 
Maloney.  Each  had  his  peculiar  ways  of  making  an  ox  pull 
a  load  and  those  who  had  to  make  a  choice  between  the  three 
would  give  the  preference  to  Lige  who  had  a  whip  with  a 
lash  ten  feet  long  and  a  stock  of  corresponding  length  and  a 
good  buckskin  cracker.  Lige  would  make  the  head  steer 
toe  the  mark  or  make  the  tongue  steers  hold  the  whole  team 
come  to  a  halt,  but  with  the  war  of  the  rebellion  an  ox  was 
worth  more  for  beef  than  for  work  and  they  went  out  of 
date.  Frank  Pemberton  died  in  the  fifties,  John  Maloney 
moved  away.  Lige  Davis  served  three  years  in  the  war  of 
the  rebellion  and  is  still  alive  and  healthy.  Having  disposed 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  381 

of  the  ox  drivers  we  come  down  to  the  inhabitants  of  Du- 
rang.  Bob  Jones  and  his  brother  Joe  kept  a  trading  house 
when  we  first  knew  the  place  and  lived  in  the  town  until 
they  started  for  Pike's  Peak  or  bust  and  with  them  S.  T. 
Walker  and  Jack  Rankin.  They  went  with  an  ox  team.  S. 
T.  Walker  can  sometimes  be  coaxed  to  tell  of  some  of  the 
incidents  of  the  trip.  They  never  saw  the  Peak  as  the  further 
they  went  the  more  people  they  met  coming  back.  The 
Jones'  stayed  west.  S.  T.  Walker,  who  is  now  our  efficient 
postmaster  came  back.  Mosteler  and  Brown  succeeded  Pratt 
&  Co.,  and  for  several  years  did  a  large  business  both  in 
grain  and  goods.  They  would  go  to  St.  Louis  once  a  year 
and  buy  large  stocks  of  goods  and  sell  them  on  long  credit 
and  take  the  farmer's  corn  and  wheat  in  payment.  James 
Brown,  I  think  is  dead.  G.  S.  Mosteler  lives  in  Pittsburg, 
Kansas.  Moseler  served  in  the  Mexican  war  and  of  course 
is  an  old  man.  I  saw  him  a  few  years  ago.  He  is  still  in  his 
prime  and  bids  fair  to  live  many  years  yet.  Andrew  Pollard 
flourished  for  several  years  as  a  merchant,  Andy  was  a  genial 
man,  who  would  sell  a  man's  goods  for  six  months  then  sue 
him  on  the  old  bill,  get  a  judgment  then  start  a  new  account 
and  invite  the  man  to  dinner  with  him.  While  Andy  kept 
store  in  the  upper  story,  the  cellar  was  run  on  a  different 
basis.  Gambling  tables  were  run  at  full  speed.  There  were 
holes  in  the  floor  and  the  drinkers  orgies  could  be  heard  at  all 
times.  Many  were  the  combats  that  transpired  in  the  base- 
ment. Andy's  wife  was  Phoebe  Hughton  whom  he  married 
in  Menard.  She  was  a  fine  woman  though  slow  of  speech. 
Andy  would  prove  everything  by  Phoebe.  "Ain't  that  so 
Phoebe?"  he  would  say  every  few  minutes.  Pollard  raised 
a  company  and  made  a  good  record  in  the  war  of  the  rebel- 
lion and  afterward  settled  in  Manito,  where  he  died  twenty 
years  ago.  Bill  Trent  was  another  man  who  did  business  at 
Spring  Lake.  He  was  a  great  trader,  while  he  dealt  in  notes 
which  he  traded  for  horses,  cattle,  sheep  and  hogs.  He 
would  start  out  for  a  trading  tour  taking  Fred  West  fall  with 


382  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

him  and  perhaps  with  a  hundred  notes  from  twenty  to  a 
hundred  dollars  each,  though  he  could  not  read  a  word.  He 
had  some  way  he  could  pick  out  a  note  he  wanted,  but  he 
finally  traded  for  a  stock  of  goods  of  Tackenburg  of  Pekin. 
Trent  owned  a  farm  near  Forest  City  which  was  all  sand, 
Tackenburg  was  coming  down  to  see  it,  but  Trent  got  him 
to  wait  till  a  big  snow  covered  it  all  over  and  then  sent  word 
for  him  to  "come."  Tackenburg  thought  it  very  nice  rolling 
land  and  the  trade  was  made.  He  did  not  stay  in  the  store 
much.  Every  person  in  Spring  Lake  clerked  for  him.  He 
bought  grain  and  called  everybody  Bud.  He  would  meet 
a  person  and  say,  "Bud,  I  am  going  down  to  St.  Louis  and 
thus  bring  up  lots  of  gold."  Trent  had  two  boys,  Press  and 
Aleck,  whom  he  determined  to  educate.  So  he  fixed  them 
up  with  new  suits  and  a  gold  watch  and  took  them  to  Peoria. 
The  next  day  the  boys  came  back  to  Spring  Lake  having 
gone  through  college.  The  doctors  were  Dr.  Camp,  Dr.  E. 
Y.  Nichols  and  J.  W.  Neal.  Nichols  kept  the  best  of  horses 
and  was  very  attentive  to  his  patients.  Dr.  Neal  married  a 
Rankin  and  left  about  the  time  of  the  war.  %  There  was  a 
saloon  built  on  the  line  between  Tazewell  and  Mason  so  if 
an  officer  came  from  Tazewell  the  keeper  would  step  on  the 
Mason  side  and  if  from  Mason  would  just  walk  on  the  other 
side.  The  farmer  living  close  was  John  Williams,  who  had 
about  twe'nty  families  to  support,  he  was  a  horse  trader  and 
every  person  who  wanted  to  buy  or  sell  anything  had  to  go 
and  see  John  Williams.  Pollard  Anno  bought  out  Williams 
and  built  one  of  the  finest  houses  in  Mason  county.  Thos. 
Landes  lived  near  town.  He  had  a  rough  exterior  but  a  kind 
heart  and  hated  all  put  on  politeness.  One  day  he  rode  to 
Pekin  with  Green  Pemberton.  A  dude  of  a  clerk  came  up 
rubbing  his  hands  and  bowing  and  scraping  said  in  French 
style,  "What  can  I  do  for  you  Mr.  Landes?"  "Go  sit  down 
and  mind  your  own  business,  when  I  want  anything  I  will 
ask  for  it,"  said  Landes.  The  clerk  wilted.  James  Adams 
lived  near  by  and  was  always  in  town.  James  Moore,  the 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 


3S3 


father  of  Bob  Moore,  lived  east  of  town  on  a  farm  he  bought 
of  Slicky  Bill  Green.  Among  the  earliest  settlers  of  Spring 
Lake  were :  Nellie  Rankin,  Joe  Jones,  Jack  Jones,  Bob,  and 
Jack  Paine,  Ash  Duncan,  Isaac  M.  Hamer,  Kush  Layton, 
Andy  Pollard,  Wm.  Combs,  Jerry  Miller,  W.  W.  Stewart, 
Wm.  Trent,  Geo.  Maltby,  Joe  Gregory,  Alex.  Trent,  Jason 
Matheney,  S.  T.  Walker  and  Jack  Walker.  Conant  & 
Jones  were  merchants  up  to  1853;  Pratt  &  Moore  to  1855 ; 
Mosteler  &  Brown  to  1857 ;  Pollard  &  Walker  to  1857 ;  Ran- 
dolph &  Co.  to  1858;  Smith  Mosher  to  1857;  Wm.  Trent 
and  Rutenberg  &  Rankin,  '56  to  '68.  Spring  Lake  is  now  a 
desolate  waste ;  only  a  few  cellars  that  Time  has  failed  to  fill 
with  drifting  land  marks.  The  places  once  so  busy  with 
trade  and  traffic  are  now  relegated  to  oblivion.  The  advent 
of  Egypt  station,  Manito  and  Forest  City  sealed  the  fate  of 
Spring  Lake.  So  Spring  Lake  is  only  used  as  a  fishing- 
headquarters. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 


j  HAVANA  FROM  J845  TO  I860 

HE  following  is  taken  from  the  Manito  Express 
in  1892  and  is  taken  from  the  gifted  pen  of 
Miss  Gertie  White,  who  now  lives  at  Murphys- 
boro,  Tenn. 

T.  G.  ONSTOT. 

It  was  one  of  the  hot,  sweltering  days  of  July,  about  the 
twentieth  as  near  as  I  can  remember,  in  the  year  of  1829  that 
a  baby  boy  came  to  live  in  a  little  cabin  in  Sugar  Grove  in 
Menard  county.  It  was  not  a  stately  mansion  that  first 
sheltered  that  babe,  nor  a  '76  rocker  that  sung  him  to  sleep. 
It  was  an  old  fashioned  cradle  of  a  planed  box  with  a  home 
made  rocker  at  each  end  that  snugly  held  the  sleeping  child, 
and  the  roof  over  head  was  covered  with  clapboards  and 
great  hewn  logs  formed  the  walls. 

At  that  time  the  red  man's  shrieks  and  yells  disturbed  the 
peace  within  the  cabin  and  the  bleak  winds  swept  from  the 
north.  It  \vas  indeed  a  wild  and  wooley  west  but  the  pioneer 
parents  knew  no  fear  for  their  hands  were  willing  and  their 
hearts  were  light  and  many  were  the  happy  hours  spent  in 
the  humble  dwelling. 

The  babe,  nursed  by  a  mother's  protecting  care,  grew 
both  in  statue  and  knowledge  and  like  all  children,  in  due 
time  received  a  name,  which  has  since  been  shortened  to  1 . 
G. 

When  T.  G.  was  old  enough  to  appreciate  the  beauties 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  385 

of  life  his  father  took  him  to  a  new  home  in  Salem,  two 
miles  above  where  Petersburg  now  stands. 

His  father  was  engaged  in  the  cooper  trade  and  also  kept 
the  village  hotel,  a  two  story  log  house.  At  this  place  the 
well  known  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  boarded  with  T.  G.'s 
father,  trotted  the  little  tad  on  his  knee.  For  the  most  part 
of  two  years  the  noble  Lincoln  made  his  home  with  Mr. 
Onstot.  In  1840  T.  G.  removed  with  his  father  to  Peters- 
burg. During  this  time  occurred  the  campaign  of  Tippe- 
canoe.  Here  T.  G.  imbibed  the  true  spirit  of  patriotism,, 
one  that  has  always  remained,  and  the  good  old  patriotic 
songs  whose  echoes  will  resound  from  hills  ancient  as  the 
sun,  in  centuries  to  come,  were  sung  clear  and  with  enthusi- 
asm from  the  lips  of  the  lad. 

While  here  T.  G.  spent  his  time  in  school  and  helping, 
his  father  and  doing  with  his  might  what  his  hands  found 
to  do. 

In  1846  he  came  to  Mason  county,  near  Havana,  and 
engaged  in  farming.  In  the  twenty-second  year  of  his  life 
occurred  the  happy  event  of  his  life.  It  was  a  beautiful  day 
and  a  beautiful  scene.  The  sun  never  shone  brighter,  the 
birds  never  warbled  such  a  chorus,  the  flowers  were  never 
so  fragrant  as  on  that  day. 

That  day  a  cupid  dart  pierced  his  heart  and  he  became  a 
victim  to  the  fair  and  beautiful,  Sarah  L.  Ellsworth,  and 
bestowing  upon  her  the  love  outweighing  all  the  jewels  in 
the  universe,  the  love  of  a  true  and  noble  heart.  He  became 
her  husband. 

They  purchased  a  neat  home  in  Pleasant  Plains  and  for 
many  years  enjoyed  the  life  of  a  farmer  to  the  utmost  ex- 
tent. All  their  efforts  were  crowned  with  success.  Their 
love  was  mutual  and  never  grew  less  and  with  happy  hearts 
did  they  sing  "We'll  love  each  other  better  dear,  when  we 
are  old  and  gray." 

In  their  prosperity  they  never  forgot  that  there  was  an  all 
wise  infinite  one,  who  ruled  the  universe. 

25 


386  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Mrs.  Onstot  was  a  faithful  Christian  at  the  time  of  her 
marriage  and  by  her  loving  influence  soon  brought  her 
companion  to  the  foot  of  the  cross  and  who  all  these  years 
has  proven  a  faithful  follower  of  Christ. 

Their  happy  home  was  blest  with  several  sweet  children, 
five  laughing  girls  and  two  noisy  boys. 

But  "there  never  was  a  day  so  sunny  but  a  cloud  appears 
and  never  a  life  so  happy  but  has  its  time  of  tears." 

Mr.  Onstot,  like  all  mankind,  was  called  to  pass  through 
deep  waters  of  affliction.  Death  visited  his  home  and  took 
away  little  Charlie,  Nellie  and  Sarah,  the  sweet  patient 
Ellen  and  his  faithful  and  devoted  wife. 

Their  bodies  were  laid  away  in  the  beautiful  cemetery  on 
the  farm  then  owned  by  Mr.  Onstot.  Naught  of  them  re- 
mains but  the  names  that  fadeth  not  away. 

Three  children  remain,  Mrs.  Mary  Bruning  of  Havana, 
a  loved  and  esteemed  lady,  Mrs.  Lulu  Jackson  of  Forest 
City,  who  directs  her  little  ones  in  the  path  of  duty  and  vir- 
tue, and  Miss  Susie,  a  refined  young  lady,  making  home 
pleasant  for  her  father. 

Since  1866  Mr.  Onstot  has  resided  in  Forest  City.  He 
has  a  beautiful  home  surrounded  by  all  the  pleasures  and 
luxuries  of  life. 

He  is  one  of  Forest  City's  political,  religious  and  com- 
mercial leaders  and  is  engaged  in  the  lumber,  grain 
and  mercantile  business.  He  has  been  tax  collector  and 
justice  of  the  peace  for  many  years. 

He  is  a  leading  member  of  the  M.  E.  church.  His  Chris- 
tian influence  and  example  has  always  been  for  the  good 
and  right  and  for  directing  wayward  souls  in  the  way  of 
righteousness. 

He  is  a  Methodist  by  name,  yet  liberal  enough  to  think 
that  other  coats,  "if  true  to  their  colors,"  will  pass  through 
the  pearly  gates. 

Mr.  Onstot  is  a  jolly  man,  always  in  a  good  humor  and 
has  a  hearty  shake  of  the  hand  for  all. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  387 

Is  strictly  prohibition,  never  using  tobacco  in  any  form 
or  profane  language.  Although  deprived  of  the  advantages 
now  enjoyed  by  young  Americans  of  the  day,  Mr.  Onstot 
may  truthfully  be  called  a  talented  gentleman.  With  an 
abundance  of  good  judgment  together  with  the  scant  educa- 
tion he  received  under  great  disadvantages,  he  is  equal  to  all 
emergencies. 

And  though  his  hair  is  now  sprinkled  with  the  frost  of 
time,  may  he  yet  live  to  see  many  hidden  hopes  bloom  into 
reality  and  may  many  years  still  be  in  store  for  him. 


THE  CHURCHES 

The  Baptist  and  Methodist  churches  were  organized  in 
Havana  about  the  same  time,  but  we  will  notice  the  Baptist 
first.  In  1846  Mrs.  Lydia  Hancock,  a  very  excellent  woman, 
opened  her  house  for  preaching  and  Sunday  school.  She 
had  moved  here  from  Dearborn  county,  Indiana,  and  there 
being  no  churches  she  held  services  in  her  dwelling.  The 
first  preacher  was  John  L.  Turner,  who  lived  in  Crane  Creek. 
Mr.  Turner  farmed  all  week  and  preached  somewhere  with- 
in a  radius  of  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  on  Sunday.  Turner 
had  a  fairly  good  education  and  preached  the  gospel  because 
of  the  love  he  had  for  it.  He  was  very  liberal  in  his  views 
and  seldom  preached  a  whole  sermon  on  the  mode  of  baptism. 
He  had  not  read  Shakespeare  nor  the  poets  much,  but  with 
the  bible  J.  L.  Turner  was  well  acquainted  from  Genesis  to 
Revelations,  hence  his  sermons  fairly  glittered  with  quota- 
tions from  the  holy  writ.  Everybody  liked  him  and  he  sel- 
dom had  a  light  attendance  when  he  preached.  He  died  on 
Crane  Creek,  where  he  always  lived.  He  was  a  man  who 
preached  and  earned  his  living  beside.  We  wish  there  were 
more  John  L.  Turners. 


388  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

There  were  three  brothers  that  lived  in  Mason  and  Ful- 
ton counties  about  this  time  named  Bawlding.  John  was  the 
oldest  and  lived  in  Fulton  county.  He  was  a  very  eccentric 
character.  They  had  their  share  of  common  sense  but  not 
much  book  learning.  They  had  not  the  holy  tone  or  whang 
doodle  style  that  many  of  the  early  Baptist  preachers  affected 
but  simply  preached  like  other  people. 

John  Bawlding  had  a  hatred  for  dogs  and  could  not  bear 
the  sight  of  one  in  the  house  while  he  was  preaching.  One 
Sunday  while  he  was  preaching  in  the  old  schoolhouse  in 
Havana,  Mrs.  George  Robinson,  who  had  a  little  rat  dog 
that  followed  her  wherever  she  went,  came  into  church  and 
of  course  the  dog  was  with  her.  Mrs.  Robinson  took  her 
seat  near  the  door  and  the  dog  crouched  at  her  feet.  Scarce- 
ly anybody  noticed  it  but  John  evidently  saw  the  dog  or 
smelled  it.  Stopping  short  he  said :  "Brethren  there  is  a 
dog  in  the  house  and  you  know  the  price  of  a  dog  was  not 
allowed  to  be  brought  into  the  sanctuary  in  olden  times  and 
I  don't  think  the  animal  himself  should  be  allowed  to  come 
in.  I  would  therefore  thank  you  to  take  it  out  as  this  meet- 
ing cannot  proceed  while  the  dog  is  in  the  house." 

The  men  sat  and  looked  at  each  other  and  the  boys  of 
my  size  giggled  and  laughed  but  nobody  put  the  dog  out. 
The  suspense  soon  began  to  grow  painful,  when  finally 
Judge  Rockwell,  a  very  precise  old  gentleman,  who  was  al- 
ways well  dressed,  came  to  the  rescue  and  went  for  the  dog. 
He  thought  he  would  just  motion  the  dog  out  with  his  cane 
but  the  dog  was  not  built  that  way.  He  took  it  that  i.e 
Judge  was  about  to  make  war  on  his  mistress  and  so  made  a 
charge  on  the  Judge  and  tore  a  piece  out  of  his  pants  leg. 
The  Judge  retreated  crestfallen  while  the  congregation 
laughed  hilariously  and  Mrs.  Robinson  indignantly  left  the 
church  with  her  dog. 

James  Bawlding  lived  near  the  mounds  at  the  mouth  of 
Quiver  Lake.  He  farmed  through  the  week  and  preached 
on  Sunday,  and  was  not  much  of  a  success  at  either.  He 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  389 

was  always  trying-  to  find  some  way  to  make  work  easier. 
We  recollect  one  spring  he  used  his  sleigh  to  cross  the 
ground  for  corn.  It  made  two  rows  at  a  time.  The  neigh- 
bors were  nearly  ready  to  mob  him  as  they  said  it  was  lazi- 
ness which  made  him  make  his  poor  horse  haul  him  back  and 
forth  across  the  field.  But  Bawlding  was  making  two  rows 
to  their  one. 

Seba  Bawlding  lived  in  town  and  fished  during  the  fish- 
ing season  and  made  some  very  large  hauls.  He  moved  to 
California  in  an  early  day.  Seba  would  preach  on  Sundays 
whenever  there  was  an  opening  for  him  and  was  about  a^ 
good  a  preacher  as  either  of  his  brothers,  except  that  he  mur- 
dered the  English  language  terribly  and  would  give  a 
learned  preacher  fits.  On  one  occasion  he  said  Paul  was  not 
a  learned  man.  "Why,"  he  said,  "Paul  said  himself  that  he 
was  brought  up  at  the  foot  of  Gamel  Hill  and  who  ever 
heard  of  a  college  at  the  foot  of  Gamel  Hill?"  At  another 
time  he  quoted  from  the  Apostle  "Jim,"  to  shorten  the  name 
we  suppose.  The  Bawldings  were  all  good  honest  men  and 
preached  the  gospel  in  its  simplicity. 

There  was  another  Baptist  preacher  named  Norton  who 
worked  at  the  shoemaker's  trade  with  Osborn.  He  belonged 
to  the  hard  shell  variety  and  had  the  holy  tone.  He  would 
work  himself  up  so  bad  that  sometimes  it  would  take  him 
several  days  to  get  over  it.  And  yet  no  person  who  was  ac- 
quainted with  him  ever  doubted  his  Christianity.  He  was 
raised  and  educated  in  the  whang  doodle  style. 

John  McDaniel  preached  occasionally  in  Havana  about 
the  time  the  war  broke  out.  The  Rev.  F.  Ingmire  also 
preached  some  in  Havana  about  the  same  time.  He  was  an 
intensely  loyal  man  and  prayed  for  the  success  of  the  union 
arms.  At  one  time  he  had  an  appointment  in  the  country. 
It  was  sacrament  day  and  an  old  Baptist  deacon  had  the  ele- 
ments prepared.  He  brought  the  bread  and  wine  and  set 
them  on  the  table.  Ingmire  opened  up  with  a  song  and  then 
prayed  and  as  usual  asked  the  Lord  to  knock  the  Southern 


39°  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

Confederacy  into  a  cocked  hat,  to  destroy  slavery  and  let 
the  oppressed  go  free.  This  was  more  than  the  old  deacon 
could  stand  and  he  crawled  on  his  hands  and  knees  and  got 
his  basket  off  the  table.  When  Ingmire  finished  his  prayer 
the  deacon  was  on  his  way  home  at  a  2  140  gait.  Ingmire 
took  in  the  situation  and  informed  his  congregation  that 
©wing  to  circumstances  over  which  he  had  no  control  there 
would  be  no  Lord's  supper  that  day.  The  occurrence  was 
published  in  the  county  papers  at  the  time  and  widely  copied 
by  the  neighboring  press. 


ROBERT   McREYNOLDS 

must  have  come  to  Mason  county  in  the  early  forties  as 
he  was  living  east  of  Havana  when  we  first  came  to  the 
country.  He  was  a  man  of  decided  convictions.  <  In  religion 
a  Methodist,  not  of  patent-right  kind  but  one  of  the  John 
Wesley  kind.  In  politics  he  was  a  democrat  of  the  Thomas 
Jefferson  kind.  Like  most  of  the  early  settlers,  he  did  not 
settle  on  the  prairies,  though  thousands  of  acres  lay  vacant 
at  $1.25  an  acre  ready  for  the  plow.  He  chose  rather  to 
clear  a  farm  out  in  the  brush  east  of  where  Uncle  Alex  Hop- 
ping lives. 

He  had  a  large  family  of  three  boys  and  six  girls,  and  he 
lived  on  this  farm  till  his  family  grew  to  womanhood  and 
manhood.  All  respected  for  their  moral  worth,  they  were 
quiet  in  their  demeanor  and  attended  to  their  own  business. 

Mr.  McReynolds'  house  for  many  years  was  headquar- 
ters for  Methodism  and  many  a  circuit  rider  found  here  a 
home,  after  a  round  of  three  weeks  on  his  circuit. 

Uncle  Robert  was  a  great  friend  of  campmeetings  in  his 
early  days  and  always  camped  on  the  grounds.  Campmeet- 
ings were  held  because  churches  were  scarce  and  school- 
houses  would  not  hold  the  people.  They  would  commence 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  391 

on  Tuesday  and  hold  over  till  the  next  Tuesday.  The  tents 
would  be  built  in  a  circular  form  around  the  auditorium 
where  the  people  would  be  seated.  Peter  Acres,  Peter  Cart- 
right,  William  Rutledge  and  Rev.  Shunck  we  recollect  as 
preachers  in  those  days.  Uncle  Robert  enjoyed  a  camp- 
meeting  and  always  took  part  in  the  exercises. 

We  have  heard  an  anecdote  that  occurred  at  one  of  these 
meetings  that  will  hurt  no  one  connected  with  it,  which  we 
beg  leave  to  relate :  It  was  the  custom  for  the  men  to  sit  on 
one  side  and  the  ladies  on  the  other  side  of  the 
grounds  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  see 
that  this  was  carried  out.  The  meeting  had  got  to  be  quite 
warm  and  interesting  and  some  of  the  men  had  gotten  on  the 
women's  side.  Uncle  Robert  was  near  the  altar  and  mo- 
tioned to  Aaron — who  was  one  of  the  transgressors,  to  come 
away  while  Aaron  mistook  his  signals  for  him  to  come  to  the 
altar.  "Not  tonight  Mr.  McReynolds."  Another  signal  was 
given  and  still  Aaron  mistook  it  for  an  invitation  to  come. 
Mr.  McReynolds  now  getting  impatient  went  to  him  and 
said.  "I  tell  you,  you  must  come."  "Not  tonight  Mr.  Mc- 
Reynolds." About  this  time  Aaron  seeing  that  he  must  do 
something  left  the  crowd  and  did  not  go  to  the  altar. 

Mr.  McReynolds  stood  in  high  esteem  in  the  democratic 
party  and  was  elected  to  nearly  all  the  offices  in  their  gift. 
Was  county  assessor,  judge,  justice  of  the  peace  and  filled 
well  all  these  offices.  He  moved  to  Havana  in  the  fifties  and 
was  a  highly  respected  citizen.  His  word  was  as  good  as 
his  bond.  No  stain  of  character  ever  rested  on  him.  He 
was  an  ideal  Christian  citizen,  was  ever  ready  to  bear  any 
burden  that  would  advance  the  cause  of  Christianity  or  better 
the  condition  of  his  fellow  man.  Would  that  there  were 
more  Robert  McReynolds. 


392  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

THE  HOWELL  FAMILY 

The  oldest  was  Charles  who  lived  up  near  the  Quiver 
mills  and  at  one  time  was  a  cabinet  maker.  My  father  bought 
a  set  of  chairs  in  1849  °f  mm  that  now  are  in  good  order 
and  are  good  enough  for  a  parlor.  He  owned  one  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  as  good  land  west  of  Howelltown  as  there 
was  in  the  country.  My  brother  R.  J.,  broke  forty  acres  of  it 
for  him  with  a  big  ox  team  referred  to  in  a  former  letter. 

Charles  Howell,  while  he  made  Quiver  his  home  was  of 
a  roving  disposition.  He  made  a  number  of  trips  west  and 
the  last  we  heard  of  him  he  was  down  in  Texas.  He  had 
some  brothers  whom  we  do  not  remember  except  Bart  and 
Theodore.  Bart  lives  in  the  corporate  limits  of  Havana  and 
for  fifty  years  has  been  a  good  quiet  citizen.  The  peniten- 
tiary would  never  have  been  built  had  all  men  been  like  Bart 
Howell.  He  will  never  have  any  use  for  the  new  jail  in 
Havana.  The  lawyers  will  never  get  rich  with  the  bills  they 
collect  of  him. 

Theodore  Howell  was  the  youngest  and  moved  to  Mis- 
souri some  years  ago.  He  was  a  pretty  good  fellow.  We 
often  met  him  at  corn  huskings  or  wood  choppings  at  night 
at  the  social  gatherings  where  Theodore  was  always  ready  to 
do  his  part.  We  learned  while  at  Havana  Chautauqua  from 
Bart  that  he  was  not  expected  to  live.  He  had  just  received 
word  from  Missouri. 


OTHER  OLD  SETTLERS 

Mention  might  be  made  of  Pulaski  Scovel  who  lived  at 
Waterford  and  at  whose  mill  all  the  lumber  was  made  that 
was  used  till  the  canal  was  finished,  which  was  in  1850.  The 
families  that  lived  in  the  town  got  their  living  from  the  saw- 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  393 

mill.  The  whole  country  was  heavily  timbered,  the  bottoms 
with  burr  oak,  walnut  and  hickory,  while  in  the  uplands  was 
the  finest  of  white  oak.  The  mill  at  Waterford  sawed  some 
of  the  finest  oak  lumber  that  was  ever  marked,  and  Pulaski 
Scovel  was  the  man  that  sawed  it.  Scovel  owned  a  fine 
farm  east  of  Havana  where  Rube  Henninger  now  lives ;  but 
in  after  years  moved  to  Leases  Grove,  where  he  lived  and 
died  fifteen  years  ago,  an  old  but  much  respected  man.  He 
delivered  his  lumber  at  Havana  with  ox  teams.  George 
Moranville  was  one  of  his  drivers  and  could  make  an  ox  do 
anything  he  wanted. 

The  day  of  oxen  has  passed  away  and  a  new  era  has 
dawned.  Gore  Palmer  said  at  Old  Salem  that  the  horse  race 
and  shooting  match  had  to  go  as  the  Chautauqua  had  taken 
its  place. 

A  circular  sawmill  at  Havana  in  1854,  run  by  the  Webbs, 
worked  up  the  elm  and  cottonwood.  I  recollect  getting  a 
couple  of  thousand  feet  of  it  that  shrunk  four  inches  end- 
ways and  that  twisted  around  like  a  gin  barrel. 

Yet  the  people  were  happy  in  those  days,  their  wants 
were  about  in  keeping  with  their  income  and  there  was  more 
friendly  feeling  among  the  people.  A  man  was  measured  by 
what  he  was  worth,  mentally  and  morally.  Now  we  have 
so  many  pumpkin  fed  aristocrats  that  a  modest  man  is  kept 
in  the  back  ground. 

As  before  mentioned  we  drove  an  ox  team  at  Havana 
for  years.  Most  of  our  hauling  was  from  the  bluffs  above 
Waterford  in  Fulton  county,  where  many  good  people  lived 
and  some  that  were  not  so  good.  There  were  the  Mileses, 
the  Warners,  the  Arnots  and  the  Pottses,  all  good  honest 
people.  We  often  drove  up  there  and  stayed  over  night  and 
the  neighbors  would  come  in  to  hear  the  news  from  town 
and  to  get  us  to  do  their  figuring  for  them.  Most  of  their 
figuring  was  as  to  the  number  of  acres  or  rods  they  had 
grubbed  for  their  neighbors.  The  land  would  be  in  all  kinds 
of  shapes  and  sizes.  Sometimes  they  would  want  to  know 


394  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

the  amount  that  their  rails  would  come  to.  There  were  no 
schoolhouses  in  the  neighborhood  at  that  time.  But  finally 
they  agreed  to  build  a  schoolhouse  and  it  was  located  on 
Tom  Arnot's  land.  The  people  turned  out  and  hewed  the 
logs  and  built  the  house.  Then  the  question  arose  as  to  who 
should  teach  the  school.  Tom  Arnot  thought  as  the  build- 
ing was  on  his  land  he  could  teach  the  cheapest  because  he 
could  board  at  home.  Mrs.  Potts  objected.  Her  daughter, 
Hulda  Ann  had  better  "larnin."  "Now,"  said  she,  "Tom 
Arnot  has  got  no  book  larnin."  He  says  there  is  only  two 
rules  in  grammar ;  one  is  to  write  the  English  language  cor- 
rectly and  the  other  is  to  write  it  properly.  "Now,"  said 
she,  "  I  know  three  more  than  that  myself.  There  is  etty- 
mology,  sintax  and  prosidy  and  I  don't  know  how  many 
more."  But  Tom  got  the  school. 

There  were  many  outlaws  living  in  the  bottoms  and  on 
the  bluffs  above  and  below  Waterford  who  would  steal,  rob 
hen  roosts  and  drive  off  cattle  and  hogs.  They  would  hide 
from  the  officers  during  the  day  time  and  make  their  escape 
at  night.  Dave  Waggoner,  who  was  sheriff  for  twenty-five 
years,  would  take  Tow  Ellsworth,  who  now  lives  at  Forest 
City,  go  out  and  lay  for  the  outlaws  at  night  and  capture 
their  men  before  daylight  the  next  morning.  Mr.  Ellsworth 
can  relate  many  thrilling  experiences  he  had  with  Waggoner. 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

DR.  CHARLES  NEWTON 

NE  OF  the  notable  characters  that  settled  in 
Lewistown  was  Dr.  Chas.  Newton  familiarly 
called  Dr.  Newt.  He  was  an  eastern  man  and 
was  well  educated  and  was  considered  a  very 
good  and  skillful  doctor.  He  was  the  only  practicing  physi- 
cian in  the  county  for  about  two  years.  He  kept  no  office  but 
made  his  home  with  O.  M.  Ross.  He  would  occasionally 
take  a  drinking  spree  that  would  last  a  day  or  two  but  aside 
from  this  was  as  perfect  a  gentleman  as  any  person  could 
wish  to  have  in  their  house. 

He  was  a  good  deal  attached  to  Ross  and  often  said  that 
there  was  no  place  that  seemed  so  much  like  as  Ross/ 
A  year  after  Dr.  Newton  came  down  to  live  with  Ross'* 
he  was  the  first  doctor  in  Lewistown  and  the  first  in  Havana 
while  living  at  Ross.'  In  Havana  Harvey's  mother  started 
him  out  to  hunt  a  girl  to  do  the  house  work.  He  crossed  the 
river  and  struck  off  into  south  Fulton  and  every  house  he 
struck  he  inquired  for  girls  and  finally  he  was  directed  to  an 
old  gentleman  who  lived  down  in  the  edge  of  Schuyler 
county  by  the  name  of  Londerbach  \vho  was  said  to  have 
four  girls.  He  found  the  place  and  told  his  business  and  one 
of  the  girls  agreed  to  go.  It  was  a  long  trip  and  they  did  not 
arrive  home  till  after  dark.  The  doctor  had  gone  to  bed  but 
called  Harvey  to  his  room  and  wanted  to  know  what  kind 
of  a  girl  he  had  brought  home.  He  was  told  that  she  was  a 


396  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

splendid  looking  girl.  Do  you  think  she  would  make  me  a 
good  wife  asked  he?  Harvey  told  him  that  he  thought  she 
would  make  any  man  a  good  wife.  So  the  doctor  courted 
her  and  in  three  months  they  were  married. 

Havana  was  at  that  time  in  Tazewell  county  and  Tre- 
mont  was  the  county  seat  fifty  miles  away,  so  the  doctor  got 
his  license  at  Lewistown  and  employed  Esq.  J.  P.  Boice  to 
come  down  and  marry  them,  as  the  marriage  had  to  be 
performed  in  the  county  where  the  license  was  procured. 

A  crowd  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  with  Esq.  Boice  and  the 
bride  and  groom  moved  out  in  the  channel  of  the  Illinois 
river  in  a  boat  until  they  were  past  the  middle  of  the  river 
so  as  to  be  in  Fulton  county  and  there  was  a  young  harness 
maker  of  Havana  who  had  been  paying  attention  to  Miss 
Londerback  and  in  fact  was  very  much  smitten  with  her  for 
she  was  handsome  and  attractive.  When  Esq.  Boice  was  re- 
peating the  marriage  ceremony  and  came  to  the  place  that  if 
any  persons  had  any  objection  why  said  parties  should  not  be 
bound  in  the  holy  bonds  of  matrimony  to  let  it  be  known  or 
ever  afterward  hold  their  peace,  young  Cook  rose  up  and 
said  he  objected.  The  squire  asked  him  what  his  objections 
were? 

He  replied  that  he  wanted  the  girl  himself.  Esq.  Boice 
told  him  that  he  did  not  consider  his  objection  legal  and  went 
and  finished  the  ceremony.  The  ferry  boat  then  rowed  back 
to  town  where  a  wedding  supper  was  given  by  the  host  and 
hostess  and  the  table  was  spread  with  the  best  the  country 
could  afford. 

The  Indians,  at  a  certain  stage  of  the  moon  each  fall,  held 
a  great  religious  festival  on  the  island  just  above  Havana. 
It  was  then  heavily  timbered  and  a  picturesque  spot.  The 
Indians  would  congregate  there  by  the  hundreds,  and  their 
religious  rites  and  ceremonies  would  last  four  days.  They 
had  an  abundance  of  good  things  to  eat  and  spent  their  time 
in  singing  and  dancing. 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  397 

One  of  their  ceremonies  was  to  burn  a  dog  to  death. 
They  would  select  a  small  white  dog  and  make  his  feet  fast 
with  four  wooden  pins,  which  they  would  drive  in  the  ground 
and  then  pile  wood  and  burn  over  him  until  he  was  covered 
four  or  five  feet  deep.  They  would  set  fire  to  the  pile  and 
then  gather  in  a  ring  around  it.  When  the  dog  commenced 
to  burn  he  would  set  up  the  most  terrific  and  awful  howling 
that  was  ever  heard.  His  cries  would  ring  through  the 
woods  for  half  a  mile.  When  the  dog  commenced  howling 
the  Indians  would  set  up  some  doleful,  dismal  cries  and  keep 
it  up  as  long  as  the  dog  kept  howling. 

Then  followed  a  war  dance  that  would  end  the  festival. 
Leonard  Ross  was  present  at  one  time  when  they  made  a  sac- 
rifice of  a  little  dog.  He  was  only  eight  years  old  but  when 
the  dog  made  such  a  yelping,  he  wanted  to  clean  out  the 
whole  Indian  tribe. 

The  mounds  above  and  below  Havana  show  that  it  was 
a  great  resort  for  the  dusky  warriors  and  whether  the 
mounds  are  the  work  of  their  hands  or  not,  they  were  used 
as  burial  places  for  their  tribes. 


THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW 

This  is  an  age  of  progress.  If  we  should  live  a  thousand 
years  it  would  always  be  a  pleasing  thought  that  we  did  not 
live  back  of  the  eighteenth  century.  All  of  the  great  in- 
ventions have  been  ushered  in  within  the  recollection  of  our 
fathers  and  grandfathers.  The  boy  of  fifteen  now  considers 
his  father  an  old  crank,  and  knows  more  than  his  grandfather 
did  at  fifty.  While  some  of  the  new  changes  may  be  unim- 
portant, some  may  be  like  the  crawfish  advance  backwards. 
Let  us  compare  notes  awhile. 

The  time  was  when  the  preacher  read  his  hymn  in  a  loud 


398  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

impressive  voice  so  that  his  hearers  had  the  sentiment  of  the 
song  in  their  hearts,  and  then  would  commence  at  the  first 
verse  and  read  two  lines  and  the  whole  congregation  would 
join  in  and  sing,  and  they  had  time  to  get  their  breath  while 
the  hymn  was  lined. 

Now  the  preacher  announces  the  page  and  calls  the  verses 
stanzas  and  sits  down  to  rest  while  the  choir  mechanically 
grinds  out  the  grist,  and  should  some  good  old  brother  or 
sister  be  moved  by  the  spirit  to  strike  up  "Come  Thou 
Fount"  or  "Children  of  the  Heavenly  King"  or  "On  Jordons 
Stormy  Banks,"  without  the  aid  of  the  music  box  a  ripple  of 
merriment  would  run  through  the  house  and  the  choir  would 
TDC  amazed. 

Time  was  when  the  gallant  youth  could  march  along  in 
majestic  dignity  with  some  little  dimpled  hand  clasped  in  his 
awkard  arm  and  who  could  sing  "Your  a  strong  Engined 
Boat ;  your  speed  isn't  slow ;  So  fair  one  be  kind  here  is  a 
Flat  you  must  Tow." 

Time  was  when  people  were  acquainted  with  their  neigh- 
bors who  lived  in  a  circle  of  five  miles,  and  with  the  whole 
family  would  make  an  all  day's  visit,  and  when  the  wife 
would  exhibit  her  quilt  patches  and  could  tell  where  every 
piece  come  from.  "This  is  some  of  grandmother's  dress,  this 
is  some  my  sister  from  Ohio  sent  me,"  and  then  before  the 
guests  started  home  \vould  get  the  seed  box  and  divide  and 
-could  tell  by  the  string  what  was  in  each  package. 

The  canned  fruit  dispensator  had  not  been  ushered  in  and 
the  fruit  was  -dll  dried  and  apple  butter  was  the  standard  with 
most  of  families.  "Soft  soap,"  when  the  moon  was  right, 
took  the  place  of  "Lenox"  and  "Ivory." 

There  was  not  so  much  "Etty  Cat."  You  did  not  have 
to  eat  with  your  fork  or  drink  coffee  with  a  spoon.  Instead 
-of  style  you  had  something  to  eat  and  your  own  way  of  eat- 
ing it. 

Perhaps  the  new  ways  are  the  best,  yet  us  old  fellows  al- 
Avays  have  a  hankering  after  the  old.  Yet  Adam  never  saw 


HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY  399 

a  World's  Fair.  Noah  never  saw  a  steamboat  or  railway. 
David  never  heard  a  brass  band.  Peter  never  telephoned. 
George  Washington  never  rode  on  a  street  car.  Abraham 
Lincoln  never  saw  a  bicycle.  Our  grandmother  made  her 
music  on  a  spinning  wheel.  Her  granddaughter  plays  on  a 
"piany  forte,"  and  don't  know  how  to  darn  a  hole  in  the  heel 
of  her  stocking. 


RIVERSIDE  PARK 


In  1845,  Just  ^^7  years  ago,  when  a  lad  of  fifteen,  we 
first  set  our  foot  on  Riverside  soil  at  the  south  end  near  the 
mound.  A  German  by  the  name  of  John  Shulte  had  erected 
a  warehouse  there  and  kept  a  small  store  in  the  upper  story. 
He  soon  had  the  German  trade  as  far  east  as  Long  Point. 

We  recollect  seeing  the  Himmers  and  Wessling's  and 
Bishop's  hauling  their  grain  there,  and  it  is  believed  that 
about  as  much  grain  was  marketed  there  as  at  Havana. 

The  grain  all  being  sacked  up,  a  steamboat  would  land 
along  side  of  the  house  and  for  several  hours  load  out  of  the 
warehouse. 

The  untimely  death  of  John  Shulte  was  caused  by  his 
going  down  in  his  wrell  to  clean  it  out.  The  rope  broke,  and 
the  bucket  struck  him  on  the  head,  killing  him  instantly. 

Mrs.  Schulte  continued  the  business  for  a  number  of 
years  and  was  married  again  to  John  Korhman,  but  died 
back  of  1850.  She  was  of  strong  mind  and  could  hold  her 
own  with  any  kind  of  a  customer. 

We  recollect  one  day  when  a  boat  was  loading  a  captain 
was  filling  his  pockets  out  of  an  egg  basket,  when  Mrs. 
Schulte  with  a  board  gave  his  coat  a  whack  and  broke  all 
his  eggs. 


4oo  HISTORY  OF  MASON  COUNTY 

The  mound  at  that  day  contained  many  Indian  relics  and 
was  no  doubt  built  by  the  red  men  as  were  other  mounds 
above  Havana. 

Steam  boating  was  then  the  only  mode  of  conveyance 
and  the  old  single  engined  boats  could  be  heard  for  five  miles 
and  as  we  lived  only  half  a  mile  back  we  had  time  to  get 
there  and  see  the  boats  pass.  Among  the  first-class  boats 
were  the  Ocean  Wave,  Prairie  State,  John  J.  Hardin,  Die 
Vernon  and  Connecticut. 

In  1848  the  first  boat  with  a  steam  whistle  came  up  and 
its  unearthly  scream  alarmed  the  whole  country  for  miles 
around.  Our  first  impression  was  that  the  "biler  had  busted." 
Where  the  grounds  are  located  we  have  killed  dozens  of 
squirrels  and  caught  catfish  in  front  of  the  park  that  weighed 
from  ten  to  twenty  pounds. 

Little  did  we  dream  that  in  a  half  of  a  century  thousands 
of  people  representing  the  culture  and  advanced  civilization 
of  the  age  would  tent  upon  the  ground,  where  the  deer  and 
wolf  had  held  disputed  sway,  and  that  the  peerless  Divine 
who  had  entranced  the  world,  by  his  eloquence,  or  that  the 
inimitable  Sam  Jones  should  hold  an  audience  on  the  banks 
of  the  majestic  Illinois. 


t,^LJNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


PIONEERS  OF  MENARO  AND  MASON  COUNTIES  FO 


